Another Saturday, another extremely close MAC matchup coming down to the final seconds. After allowing Bowling Green to beat them last week with eight seconds remaining, Miami responded when it mattered most. After allowing a touchdown with one second left, UMass decided they wanted to go for a 2-point conversion, and a win rather than settling for overtime. Malcolm McCain had decided he wasn’t going to allow the RedHawks to have back to back weeks of heartbreak. He broke through the line and sniffed out some Minuteman trickery on a reverse, tackling the UMass ball carrier in the backfield, ending the game.
Takeaways:
Miami has to find a better rushing attack than quarterback Caleb Heavner scrambling. Heavner ran 11 times for 54 yards and a touchdown. Those stats in a vacuum are great. However, when you zoom out and look at the fact that the 54 yards is the highest rushing total this weekend, things look worse. Heavner’s 11 carries was tied for the highest number of carries on the team (Rodney Nelson had 11 carries for 52 yards on the day). Miami is on QB3 at this point in the year. They do still have a lot to play for (bowl game, wide-open MAC). They cannot afford Heavner to continue this level of usage and continue to risk injury.
Heavner has to be more productive than 6-20. Heavner’s legs were always a positive about him, and it was one of the key reasons he was brought into the RedHawk system this offseason. However, his arm was very good at Fort Hays, and he hasn’t had that success since arriving at Miami. He is now 30-53 for 329 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception this year. Those numbers include 2 starts. In those two starts he is 23-44 for 293 yards. That’s just less than 150 yards per game. Miami doesn’t need him to be David McComb and throw for 300 yards a day, but the offense cannot be this one dimensional against tougher opponents this year.
The defense is going to be the reason this team wins games. After the UMass victory, the Miami defense appears to have officially turned a corner. While yes, they have given up 21, 20 and 19 points the last three games, they’ve been able to do enough to keep their sputtering offense in the game. They need to continue to lock things down, but there is a path here towards the RedHawk defense to keep them in games. Today, they gave up 319 yards, including 254 through the air and just 65 on the ground. They also had a takeaway, forcing and recovering a fumble. The area they need to continue to progress in, however, is the passing game. This is a strength of UMass, but they allowed 254 yards on 21-35 in the air, and their passing attack was what almost won the game for the Minutemen in the final minute. The defense has progressed week over week, and they’ve held their last two opponents to less than 70 yards rushing.
Special teams still plays a massive role in winning. Unironically, the most valuable person on the RedHawk roster today was the punter. Pierse Stainton punted 7 times for 294 total yards today. He pinned the Minutemen inside their 20 6 separate times, giving the defense a significant advantage. Additionally, Kellan McLaughlin has come into his own over the last two weeks, going 6-6. In the first 4 games, McLaughlin was 2-6 on the year. He is yet to miss an extra point (15-15). As Miami has been in a one possession game each of the last four weeks, McLaughlin’s leg is another key to winning games.
Miami will be back in action next weekend for Family weekend vs. Akron at 3:30 p.m.