Fresh off a 26-7 win over Presbyterian Sept. 5, Miami (1-0), of the Mid-American Conference, comes to Madison Saturday to take on Wisconsin (0-1) in the Badgers’ home opener.
The matchup Saturday will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams, even though Wisconsin has played games against MAC teams in eight of the last 10 seasons.
After struggling to a 2-10 finish in 2014, the RedHawks clinched their first season-opening win since 2007 last weekend. In the first start of his career, redshirt senior quarterback Drew Kummer went 14-of-19 for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and running backs Alonzo Smith and Kenny Young combined for 145 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.
Miami returns just four offensive starters from a year ago, including redshirt sophomore receiver Jared Murphy, a 5-foot-10-inch, 184-pound target who caught five passes for 101 yards against Presbyterian.
Redshirt freshman receiver Chris Hudson plays Murphy’s foil, standing at 6-feet-6 inches tall and 226 pounds. He didn’t register a catch against Presbyterian and he’s still very raw, but his size could prove difficult for the Badgers’ undersized secondary.
Defensively, head coach Chuck Martin has eight starters returning, led by defensive ends JT Jones and Bryson Albright. Junior Heath Harding and redshirt junior Marshall Taylor hold down the fort at cornerback and are two of the more experienced RedHawks in the secondary.
The outlook for Miami has been bleak the last few years. Martin, who was an assistant coach with Notre Dame prior to coming to Oxford, has the glowing accolade of snapping the RedHawks’ 21-game losing streak last October, which dated back to 2012. Amid a conference boasting prolific offenses, while defense falls by the wayside, Miami doesn’t shine on either side of the ball. In 2014, the Redhawks went 2-6 against the MAC, and lost its lone Big Ten matchup to hapless Michigan Sept. 13.
Miami averaged just 5.45 yards per play on offense last year and, with major losses on that side of the ball, it will again struggle to put up points within its fast-paced spread offense that thrives on catching defenses off guard. They will be hard-pressed to move the ball against Wisconsin, which went against one of the best pace-oriented offenses in Alabama last weekend.
As with most MAC teams, Miami will have to play above its head to have a shot at ending Wisconsin’s 32-game winning streak at home against non-conference teams. Despite suffering an array of injuries on both sides of the ball, Wisconsin should have little difficulty disposing of one of the bottom feeders of the MAC.
