Miami football reviews loss to Wisconsin ahead of next road matchup

When the Miami University RedHawks football team entered Camp Randall Stadium to open the 2025 season against the University of Wisconsin Badgers, it expected a tough battle. In the week leading up to the game, head coach Chuck Martin and the RedHawks acknowledged the strength of its Big Ten opponent and knew Miami would need to put forth its best effort.

When the clock ran out in the fourth quarter on Aug. 28, Miami managed to hold the Badgers to 17 points. However, after 60 minutes of play, the RedHawks couldn’t impact the scoreboard, giving Miami a 17-0 loss on its record to start the season.

At a press conference on Sept. 1, Martin spoke about the importance of moving forward after a shutout.

“Mentally, you gotta be tough to handle it because no one likes losing,” Martin said. “No one likes getting sand kicked in their face. There’s some guys that got some sand kicked in their face and got overwhelmed physically, but there’s also some guys that did great.”

Some of the players that performed great, Martin said, were on the defensive side of the ball. The RedHawks held Wisconsin to three points going into the second half. The Badgers received to start the third quarter and marched towards the endzone, but a Silas Walters goal-line interception reinvigorated Miami’s offensive efforts.

“Defensively, I just thought we played hard,” Martin said. “I thought we got off blocks. I thought we played north and south. I thought we played on edges. I thought we did a lot of good things defensively, [but] there’s still plenty of things to clean up defensively. There’s things, when you watch the tape, that we can do better and have to do better moving forward.”

Despite the opportunity, the RedHawks punted three minutes later. The Badgers took their first touchdown of the night when backup quarterback Danny O’Neil found senior receiver Vinny Anthony II in the endzone with four minutes left in the quarter.

Now down two scores with 15 minutes to play, Miami's offense needed to right its ship. The RedHawks hadn’t yet reached 100 offensive yards going into the fourth quarter.

Miami went three-and-out on its next two drives, and a Wisconsin punt found the offense at its own 10-yard line. Sixth-year quarterback Dequan Finn threw his first interception of the night to graduate student safety Preston Zachman, setting the Badgers up a short distance away from another touchdown.

O’Neil’s rush and senior kicker Nathanial Vakos’ extra point added seven to Wisconsin’s total. With the RedHawks down 17 in a hostile environment with less than seven minutes remaining, a comeback for the Red and White was unrealistic.

Finn’s second interception, also to Zachman, ended Miami’s offensive showing for the night. The Badgers earned four first downs to run the clock out, taking their shutout by 17.

“We played fast, played hard in spurts,” Martin said, “but [we] were more overwhelmed than anything offensively. It looked like a bunch of first-time starters, that’s how we played. We’ll look like a bunch of second-time starters this week.”

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In his first game with the RedHawks, Finn threw nine completions on 18 attempts for 83 yards, as well as two interceptions. Three of his targets went towards redshirt sophomore receiver Cole Weaver, who led the roster with 35 yards.

Martin said it wasn’t just Finn that underperformed: the offense in general made mistakes, and he took responsibility for the team’s showing against the Badgers.

“There’s things that he didn’t do well in the fourth quarter that he’s got to work on,” Martin said, “but it’s 30 offensive players and about 10 offensive coaches. We all gotta grind together and get everything cleaned up. It was everybody’s fault, starting with me.”

When the Badgers last welcomed Miami to Camp Randall in 2015, they pummeled the RedHawks 58-0. Miami’s defense kept the Badgers from reaching that same height.

Adam Trick led both teams with two sacks, while Nasir Washington brought in one of his own. After the first two quarters, Wisconsin only managed one field goal and was forced to punt three times.

Washington acknowledged the defense’s performance, but he said the RedHawks could have held the Badgers to zero.

“We held a Big Ten team to 17 points,” Washington said. “That’s good on our end, but obviously our goal is to keep them to zero points. We can always do better. There’s no perfect defense, no perfect game. From the film, we can always pick out little things to do better.”

Overall, Martin said the team as a whole looked like a lot of new starters: Miami’s roster on both sides of the ball is largely made of freshmen and transfer players. He said some players weren’t prepared for their first college game, and that they will need to be when the RedHawks visit Rutgers University on Sept. 6.

@kethanbabu_04

babukc2@miamioh.edu