“Obviously, ‘disappointing’ is an understatement,” Coach Chuck Martin stated what was clear to everyone today in his postgame press conference after Miami dropped a heartbreaker to previously 0-4 Bowling Green.

“That’s a game we’ve got to win,” Martin said. 

First, to state another obvious storyline, Miami is down to its third-string quarterback, and while that’s not necessarily an excuse, it does become increasingly difficult to put together strong offensive performances as your QBs continue to fall like they have the last two years in Oxford.

Caleb Heavner came in and played mistake-free football, throwing for 198 yards on 17-24 attempts. He added 15 carries for 24 yards. Overall, this performance isn’t going to jump off the page. However, he did exactly what was needed out of him today. He had to lean on the defense and rushing attack to help get into a rhythm. The running backs averaged 4.2 yards per carry today on 20 carries for 84 yards. Rodney Nelson had 16 for 70, and no running backs got into the end zone. That performance is enough to help get Miami out of trouble. However, Heavner ran the ball 15 times for 24 yards (6 of those “carries” were sacks). Consistently throughout the day, Heavner was pressured and forced out of the pocket. It worked out really well when he connected with Lynel Billups-Williams for a touchdown after a scramble. However, it also led to him struggling to find receivers. Much like expected, he needs time to get used to FBS level football and athleticism. His final QBR (Quarterback rating) was 40.7. If you follow those stats, you know that’s extremely poor and is not a winning metric.

Miami’s defense, while stout through the first quarter, gave up two explosive plays (64-yard touchdown from Jay Kastantin to Nakai Amachree, and a 48-yard bomb to Brennan Ridley). Those two plays account for more than a third of the entirety of the passing attack for Bowling Green, who ended up with 305 passing yards. With all of the change on offense, Miami desperately needed to shut down Bowling Green. The first quarter went very well, but Miami’s offense couldn’t capitalize. 

After that, things turned on their head a bit, Miami kicked a field goal to open the scoring in the second quarter, but the Falcons rattled off 10 unanswered before Kellan McLaughlin hit his 2nd and 3rd field goals of the quarter to make it a 10-9 game at half. Neither team scored in the 3rd quarter, but a Kastantin 14-yard touchdown pass made it 17-9 before Heavner and the RedHawks drove down the field and got the touchdown plus the 2 point conversion to tie the game. 

After a defensive stop, McLaughlin put the RedHawks up 20-17. However, Bowling Green was left with just enough time on the clock and Leo Kemp pushed it in for the game winning score with 8 seconds remaining.

We’ve talked about the biggest player-related takeaways. Explosive plays and an offense going through a ton of change. However, the most difficult part of this loss is that the clock was managed horribly to end the game by Miami’s coaching staff.

Going into the 2 minute warning, Miami had just gotten a 3 yard rush to set up a second-and-7. Out of the two minute timeout, Miami threw the ball twice, once incomplete to Damarion Witten, the second to Maleek Huggins. They took exactly nine seconds off the game clock before fourth down and the field goal was made. 

After the field goal, Bowling Green had saved two timeouts and had 1:47 to work with. They needed 1:39 to ruin the day for the RedHawks. With a rushing attack that had averaged just over 4 yards per carry, why would you put the ball in your unproven, third string QB instead of handing it off and forcing the Falcons to use their timeouts?

Those are the kinds of question fans are asking, with several fans taking to social media to voice their displeasure after today’s loss. Regardless, things will move forward, and the RedHawks will be back on the field on the road next weekend against UMass at 3:30 on ESPN+.