RedHawks face hot freshman QB at Bowling Green


SATURDAY’S GAME

Miami (1-6, 1-2 Mid-American Conference East Division) at Bowling Green (1-6, 0-3 MAC East), noon

Bowling Green lost a heartbreaker at arch-rival Toledo last Saturday, scoring three touchdowns to tie before falling 42-35 when the Rockets went ahead with 18 seconds left.

The electrifying comeback led to not just one, but two Falcon players being named Mid-American Conference East Division players of the week. Redshirt freshman quarterback James Morgan was 25-of-38 passing for 335 yards and five touchdowns. The Green Bay, Wis., native rallied the Falcons by going 10-of-13 for 166 yards and three touchdown throws in the fourth quarter as Bowling Green pulled even with 3:07 to play.

Morgan goes into Miami’s game at Bowling Green on Saturday as the first freshman in Falcon program history to throw for at least 250 yards in three consecutive games.

“You have to play really good defense,” RedHawks coach Chuck Martin said. “They can score in a hurry on long plays and they go super fast. You can line up, and they become like chess pieces. You have to get in place in a hurry.”

Kickoff is at noon in the first game between the teams since 2013. Five things to watch:

Bowling Green's punter: Yes. We said punter. Junior Joseph Davidson had the longest punt in the country, an 82-yarder, added another 60-yard punt and executed a successful fake punt at Toledo. Davidson now has six punts that have traveled at least 60 yards and punts that have sailed at least 70 yards in back-to-back contests. With the Falcons trailing 35-21 in the fourth quarter, Davidson ran for 24 yards on a fourth-and-22 fake punt. Bowling Green scored four plays later and eventually tied the game on the team's next possession with 3:07 to go.

Miami DE Zach Smierciak: The junior from Aurora, Ohio, had a career-high seven tackles and added one sack in the RedHawks' 18-14 win over Kent State. Smierciak's sack came on Kent State's potential game-winning drive to force a fourth-and-long.

The RedHawks lead the MAC in total defense, allowing an average of 334.7 yards per game.

Ragland's repertoire: Miami third-year sophomore quarterback Gus Ragland was remarkably effective against the Golden Flashes in his first career start — indeed, his first action of the season after coming back from knee surgery — especially since his playbook was limited by having only three days of practice.

“We were starting our third quarterback in three weeks,” Martin pointed out. “We didn’t have our full complement of plays. It’s not like we had 46 run and pass plays at our beck-and-call.”

Ragland finished 10-of-21 for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

Miami's morale: The RedHawks had been in position to win four games they ended up losing this season, and Martin is anxious to learn what kind of impact seeing their efforts rewarded with a win will have down the stretch.

“That was a huge confidence-builder,” he said. “The morale has always been good, but winning helps with the confidence. We’ve been in games, but all three facets got the job done in the last five minutes on Saturday.”

Replay turnaround: Martin saw replay cost Miami a first down Saturday, just the latest in a litany of replay reviews that have gone against the RedHawks.

“I think we’re 0-for-the-season with replay officials,” he said with a smile. “We’re going to get one coming up.”

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