The Miami University Redhawks (0-1) will face off against the University of Holy Cross Crusaders (0-2) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12 at Yager Stadium.
After the blowout loss against the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, Miami is looking to get back on track with a win in its home opener. This will be the first matchup between the two programs.
The Crusaders opened the season with a 35-10 loss against the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks, followed by a 35-10 loss against the Colgate University Raiders.
As a member of the Patriot League, Holy Cross competes in the Football Championship Subdivision. The RedHawks are the only Football Bowl Subdivision opponent that the Crusaders will face all year.
Holy Cross won five straight Patriot League championships from 2019-23, all while head coach Bob Chesney led the team. Chesney later found success replacing Curt Cignetti at James Madison University and is in his first season as the head coach of the University of California, Los Angeles. Current head coach Dan Curran was named as his successor.
This is Curran’s third season at Holy Cross, and he entered the year with a prior record of 9-15. He was previously the head coach at Merrimack University from 2013-23, and spent some time in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and the Seattle Seahawks.
Junior David Lynch started the first two games for Holy Cross. Lynch has just over 100 career passing attempts between his time at Pittsburgh and his first two games at Holy Cross. In these passing attempts he has thrown just one touchdown and eight interceptions.
In the run game, Holy Cross is only averaging 2.5 yards per carry this season on 28.5 carries per game.
After giving up eight touchdowns against Pittsburgh, Miami’s defense has the opportunity to get back on track and find its identity for the rest of the season. The RedHawks only allowed 21.7 points per game last year, so the intimidating 59 points they gave up against Pittsburgh should not be a season-long concern.
On the other side of the ball, quarterback David McComb showed flashes of good football in his first career start. McComb threw the ball 33 times, completing 16 attempts for 240 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He amassed 196 passing yards in the second quarter alone.
The receiver unit was able to make some big plays to help out McComb, with Damarion Witten, Scoop Smith, Braylon Isom and Lynel Bishops-Williams all recording multiple catches, at least one for 15 or more yards. The depth at the wide receiver position has already made an impact.
“You’re gonna see guys have better games than others every single week, because I think there’s just so much versatility in the room,” McComb said. “Everybody does their own things so well, and there’s not one person that just gets fed the ball. I can spread it around a lot. Going forward, you’re going to be able to see that more.”
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The offensive struggle for the RedHawks was in the ground game, where they averaged 1.3 yards per carry on 21 attempts. The offensive line failed to establish any success against the talented Pittsburgh defense front, which caused Chuck Martin to lean into the passing game much more than he would have liked to in McComb’s first start. Still, Martin has hope for McComb.
“I’m really excited about David,” head coach Martin said. “Not how he played, because he didn’t play near good enough, or make decisions near good enough to beat anyone, let alone Pitt, but his demeanor was incredible. His compete level was incredible. His poise was really good. His taking care of the football was really good.”
Gaining more yards in the run game will only improve what McComb is able to do in the passing game, allowing him to play even better than he did at the first game.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Yager. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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