Preview: Miami football enters MACtion with the Battle of the Bricks against Ohio

The Miami University RedHawks football team (5-3, 4-0 in conference play) hits the road for its first midweek matchup in this year’s edition of the Battle of the Bricks against the Ohio University Bobcats (5-3, 3-1 in conference play). Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio.

The two met twice last season, splitting the series 1-1. The second matchup occurred at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship in Detroit, when the Bobcats nearly shut out Miami 38-3 to take the title and end the RedHawks’ seven-game winning streak at the time.

“The last time we played, they beat the dog out of us,” Miami head coach Chuck Martin said. “We got out-coached, out-played, out-everything. We got whooped on both sides of the ball … If you have any pride, you get beat up pretty good, then you want to respond in a good way. But most importantly, this is a monster game. We’re halfway through the season.”

The Bobcats have the same quarterback since last year’s title game. Graduate student Parker Navarro ranks second in the MAC averaging 223.3 passing yards per game, and he has thrown 11 touchdowns so far.

Navarro plays heavily into Ohio’s run game as well, ranking 10th in the conference with 504 rushing yards and ninth with four rushing touchdowns. The RedHawks saw this last year when he matched two passing touchdowns with two rushing against them in Detroit.

Ohio can also rely on redshirt senior running back Sieh Bangura, the conference’s rushing yards (728) and rushing touchdowns (nine) leader.

In the air, Navarro has relied on junior receiver Chase Hendricks the most with 57 targets. Those passes have netted Hendricks 805 receiving yards – the most in the MAC – and six touchdowns.

The Bobcats matched the Central Michigan University Chippewas with the best out-of-conference record at 2-2 going into MAC play. Ohio beat the West Virginia University Mountaineers and the Gardner-Webb University Runnin’ Bulldogs but dropped two games in the Big Ten, including a 37-9 defeat to the No. 1 Ohio State University Buckeyes.

After opening conference play with a 35-20 win over the Bowling Green State University Falcons, Ohio fell 20-14 to the Ball State University Cardinals to lose its undefeated status. Since then, the Bobcats have won two-games straight to rank fourth in the MAC.

Last week’s matchup against the Eastern Michigan University Eagles found Ohio trailing 14-7 at half. However, a productive second half allowed the Bobcats to find the endzone three times, with Bangura scoring two touchdowns, to take the lead. The Eagles added a last-minute touchdown, but Ohio won 28-21 when the clock showed 0:00.

With Ohio’s one loss and after the University of Buffalo Bulls’ defeat two weeks ago, Miami now ranks first in the MAC with an undefeated record in conference play.

The RedHawks downed the at-the-time undefeated Western Michigan University Broncos after scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter to overcome an eight-point deficit. Seventh-year quarterback Dequan Finn threw for 260 yards and one touchdown and scored another touchdown on the ground. Redshirt senior kicker Dom Dzioban kept Miami in the game with four field goals.

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Redshirt junior receiver Kam Perry led the team with 98 yards, with 86 of them coming from two deep receptions. Perry ranks second in the conference with 612 receiving yards this season, and he leads Miami’s roster with three touchdowns.

Miami holds a 56-43-2 record in the rivalry with Ohio. The RedHawks are 4-7 in the series since Martin became head coach in 2014.

In last year’s Battle of the Bricks, the Bobcats dominated in all four quarters to take the largest win differential in the history of the MAC championship.

Eleven months and a completely reworked roster later, Miami looks to make up for its shortcomings in Detroit last year and continue its winning streak now. Martin said the game is not only important because of each team’s rankings in the conference, but also because of the history between the two.

“The rivalry is huge,” Martin said. “There’s so many connections between Miami and Ohio. We may hate each other, but we’re very alike places. We hate each other because we’re rivals. I don’t think we hate each other because they don’t believe in the same stuff we do, or vice versa.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Athens. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

@kethanbabu_04

babukc2@miamioh.edu