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Despite leading early in the second half, the Miami football team dropped its second game in a row, falling to Vanderbilt, 24-13.

'Hawks unable to hold lead against Vanderbilt

By: Adam Hainsfurther

Posted: 10/30/07

Taking a break from Mid-American Conference action, the Miami University RedHawks traveled to Nashville, Tenn. to take on the Commodores from Vanderbilt University. Although taking the lead 13-10 early in the second half, the Commodores eventually battled back and won 24-13, sending the 'Hawks to their second straight loss.

"We didn't make enough plays on either side of the ball," Miami Head Coach Shane Montgomery said. "One thing that we thought about going into the game was that they had a very experienced offensive line with five fifth-year seniors and a very good defensive line, and they started to control the line of scrimmage towards the end."

Vanderbilt, a team that features 16 juniors and 11 seniors, was coming off of a stunning upset win on the road against then No. 6 ranked University of South Carolina, carried the momentum into Saturday's game.

Miami found it difficult to move the ball against Vanderbilt's defense which was ranked 14th in the country in total yards allowed. The RedHawks collected just 26 total rushing yards and were held to 238 total yards of offense.

"They were the 14th ranked defense in the country," Montgomery said. "In the SEC going against Georgia, Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina in the last four weeks. They're pretty good defensively. We knew we were going to have to be creative trying to find ways to run the ball. We ran the ball OK in the first half. Once we got behind there, we started to throw the ball a little bit more and ended up with five sacks, which is where they take the yardage that takes away from your running games. We realized we were going against one of the top 20 defenses in the country and it was going to be a tough match up."

Junior linebacker Joey Hudson noted a bright spot in the game was Miami's ability to create turnovers while on defense. The 'Hawks forced four Vanderbilt turnovers, and while on offense, didn't turn the ball over once.

"We played really hard," Hudson said. "It was weird because it's never as bad as you think it is, and coming off the field I thought it was pretty bad. Watching the film is different though because you can't here anything. You just see what happens between the whistles, and I thought after watching film, that we played really hard, and really aggressive. It just came down to us not making enough plays, that's all it was. There were a lot of times when we should have stopped them."

Hudson finished the day with 15 tackles, while on the offensive side of the ball, redshirt sophomore quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh threw for 212 yards on 18 completions and finished the day averaging 5.7 yards per completion with one touchdown.

His one touchdown was a 40-yard bomb to freshman Jamal Rogers, who collected his first collegiate touchdown. Although Miami did hold the lead a couple of times throughout the game, it was Vanderbilt who out played the 'Hawks down the stretch to come out on top. Miami attempted to battle back, but found the 11-point hole too much to climb back from.

"They wore us down running the ball on offense, and defensively, once we got down by 11 we just had to start throwing the ball and that wasn't part of our game plan against them," Montgomery said. "We were up against a good football team with a lot of experience and they just wore us down on a little bit both sides of the ball."

While Raudabaugh blamed his play as part of the loss, there were positive points to take from the game.

"I don't think I played well enough for the team to win," Raudabaugh said. "Our scheme was good and we had some opportunities. I think I got the ball there sometimes, and sometimes I could have made a better throw. There are some good things to take into next week, but I need to play better to
win it."

Montgomery echoed Raudabaugh's comments, saying that the team needs to take positives from the Vanderbilt loss as the team reopens MAC play.

"As we go into next week's game, I think we feel good with the way we competed against Vanderbilt, but I think we realize that we didn't make enough plays to win the game, and that's something we've got to improve this week," he said.

Next weekend the RedHawks are back in the comfort of Yager Stadium as they take on the University at Buffalo, who is currently leading the MAC East by just half a game over Miami. The winner of Saturday's game will control first place in the MAC's east division.

"We've got to do more this week," Raudabaugh said. "We've got to do more each week, it doesn't matter who the opponent is. But this week the opponent happens to be Buffalo and it is for first place. We've got to come out and prepare with the utmost intensions of being a champion, and so we've got to prepare like a champion this week."