Football Falls at Miami

OXFORD, Ohio – Outside of the game's opening drive, not much positive.

Miami (Ohio) scored the game's final 43 points, 30 of which came in the second half, in handing Central Michigan a 46-7 loss on Saturday in a Mid-American Conference game at the RedHawks' Yager Stadium.

It was the third straight loss for CMU, which is 3-5, 1-3 MAC and now begins a stretch of three consecutive Tuesday night league contests against three of the MAC's better teams, Bowling Green, Toledo and Western Michigan.

"We started out OK and just sputtered on offense and gave up some explosives on defense, which makes it tough," CMU coach Jim McElwain said. "I love these kids, they work their tails off. I just want to see them have success in the worst way. It's really going to be about direction as we get ready to get into MACtion."

The RedHawks (4-4, 3-1), who were picked in the preseason coaches poll to win both the league regular season title and the conference championship game, held the Chippewas to season lows in total yardage, first downs, passing yards and rushing yards.

The 39-point margin of defeat was CMU's largest of the season. CMU has lost eight consecutive road games and Miami's 518 total yards was the most the Chippewas have surrendered since a loss last season at Notre Dame.

Central Michigan took a 7-3 lead on a Myles Bailey 2-yard touchdown run with just under 2 minutes to play in the first quarter.

Bailey's touchdown, his first since CMU's 66-7 season-opening victory over Central Connecticut State, capped an impressive 15-play, 75-yard drive which tied for CMU's second longest of the season in terms of number of plays. It was CMU's longest drive of the season in possession time (just over eight minutes).

But after that, the CMU offense was hit and miss – mostly miss -- and the Chippewas relied on their defense to give them even a fighting chance. Three times in the first half, Miami had a first-and-goal and all three times, the Chippewas held the RedHawks to a field goal.

Encouraging, to a point, and it kept CMU in at 16-7 at the break.

But CMU's inability to move the ball – the Chippewas finished with 65 total yards in the final two quarters – spelled doom as Miami took complete control, scoring 30 second-half points.

"Just got to play with some consistency and take what they give you," McElwain said. "Don't try to do too much. That's what's so frustrating. We've got a great group of kids in that locker room that really care about the Chippewas, really care about Central Michigan, and this is going to be a big gut check time about direction and the direction we're going to go is forward and get ready to go play the next game.

"We've got to get some things going offensively. Right now we've got to give (our players) answers and that's all part of the direction.

"The biggest thing is you've got to be constructive. You can't tippy-toe around the mistakes, but at the same time … are you getting overpowered? That's something different. We've got to do a good job of getting those corrections handled and getting them going in the right direction."

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Team Stats

Tyler Jefferson

Players Mentioned

Myles Bailey