The Ohio Bobcats Heading Into Battle Of The Bricks Against Miami In Very Good Form

October 27, 2022 by Staff

The Ohio Bobcats and Miami RedHawks will be rekindling their rivalry early next month, with the famous Battle of the Bricks set for November 8. The schools both play in the Mid-American Conference and have faced off a total of 97 times. The Redhawks have the edge as the record stands at 54-41-2 but Ohio will hope to close the gap when they meet for their next fixture.

The Bobcats do appear to be the side most likely to win this time around as they’ve been doing well in the MAC East Division and are second in the standings with a 3-1 record. Miami has only won one of its four games in the division.

As betting on college sports is perfectly legal in Ohio, fans and punters alike could find odds from bookmakers such as BetMGM Ohio.

Some good news coming out of Ohio: graduate student defensive tackle Kai Caeser has been nominated for the Wuerffel Trophy. The award, which goes to a player considered to have offered the best community service, is presented every February and is named after 1996 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel.

"I am inspired to learn about the wonderful work that so many of today's student athletes are doing in their communities to make a significant impact on those around them," Wuerffel was quoted as saying.

"The number and diverse types of organizations this 2022 class of Wuerffel Trophy nominees reaches is greater than we've ever seen.  Having a record 109 nominees is a great illustration of the commitment students and their universities place on serving others."

The Redhawks, meanwhile, are 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the MAC East but head coach Chuck Martin is hardly discouraged by the numbers and still hasn’t given up on his team featuring in the division’s championship game. Martin rightly pointed out that the program still managed to win silverware following a 0-6 and 0-2 start in 2016.

“The way I see it, win this week, win next week and so on and let’s see what happens,” he remarked, per Daytonnews.com. “In this league, you never know. I’ve heard it from a bunch of people that, ‘Everything’s gone.’ I’m Iike, ‘I don’t know that.’

“In 2016, we were 0-6 and 0-2 and we almost had a conference championship trophy in the trophy case.”

The 2016 Miami side won their last six games and tied with the Bobcats for the division title. A loss to Ohio was the only thing that got in their way of playing in the MAC title game. However, the only thing the 2016 team has in common with the current one is that they had a quarterback return from injury and turn things around. Martin will hope that fourth-year QB Brett Gabbert’s return will have a similar impact on the RedHawks’ hopes.

When Gus Ragland returned back then, Miami didn’t lose until they suffered a marginal 17-16 defeat to Mississippi State in the St. Petersburg Bowl. Gabbert, on the other hand, could not help his team to a win when they played Western Michigan on Saturday, returning to play in a 16-10 loss.

Miami can still qualify for a bowl game by winning at least three of their last four games, even if they miss out on the division title. They will hope to begin a run of wins when they face Akron on Saturday. The game will be a momentous one for Martin because it will be his 100th game as RedHawks head coach and move him above Randy Walker for the most in the school’s history.

The following game will be the one against the Ohio Bobcats and a clash against Northern Illinois will precede a regular-season closer vs. Ball State at Yager Stadium.

Martin is well aware of the fact that his team will have to look to the running game, which has not been very successful lately. Miami rushed for more than 200 yards on four occasions this season, taking 240 in a loss to Buffalo and 236 in a win over Kent. They’ve only managed a combined 181 rushing yards in two games since then.

“Physicality is always a part of it,” Martin added. “We haven’t been as consistent as we’d like to be. If we get the passing game going, that should open up the running game.

“One of the problems is we’re not getting first downs. We have to stay ahead of the chains.”