OXFORD - Randy Walker would like to see the Miami-Cincinnati game returned to where it used to be.
"It's about time for my yearly plea, we need to play this game (as) the last game," Walker said Tuesday. "You play your conference (schedule) and you finish this thing up. The last week of the season you get together and it's 'The Game.' It's still 'The Game,' always will be, but I wish we'd play at the end. I thought it was fun then."
Next
UC (5-2)
at Miami (6-1)
When: 2 p.m., Saturday
Where:Yager Stadium
Line:Miami by 6 1/2.
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From 1912-1985 - with the exception of three seasons - - the Miami-Cincinnati game always was the last game on the schedule, usually played on Thanksgiving weekend.
"I think it's a special game no matter when you play it, but I think some of the distractions, some of the hoopla, it's not as important then (at the end of the season). Because it's all over after that one, it's the last (game)."
This game comes at a crucial time on Miami's schedule. The RedHawks have a legitimate chance to go to the Mid-American Conference title game. Miami is 4-1 in the conference, coming off an important victory over Marshall and have big back-to-back road games against Toledo and Ohio, both undefeated in the MAC, following the UC game.
Still, the UC game is a big one. At his Tuesday press conference, Walker brought it up before the media could.
"I know I'll get asked, 'Is this a big game?'," Walker said. "I'll answer it the same way do every year: It's the biggest game this week. Yeah, there are going to be distactions . . . It is a big game because it's Cincinnati, it's the rivalry, it's 108 years (since the first game between the two teams was played), but that's merely peripheral."
However, it has been said in the past by coaches, players and alumni, if Miami finishes 1-10, that one win had better be against Cincinnati.
Walker didn't go far as to say that. "We have two outstanding football teams that are having good years, but this game would (mean) a whole lot if we were both 0-6," Walker said. " . . . I've been in them when neither team is doing well, or one or the other, it's still a huge game, it's a special game. It's one you remember for the rest of your life."
Some players may be more distracted than others this week. Miami has 13 players from the Cincinnati area, including seven starters.
"I don't talk about it, but I worry about it," Walker said of possible additional distractions. "But that's the thing that's been good about this football team. We seem to handle (distractions) all the right way."
Game reports
MIAMI 45, MARSHALL 21 Oct. 19, 1997
MIAMI 62, KENT 26 Oct. 5, 1997
MIAMI 24, VIRGINIA TECH 17 Oct. 5, 1997
MIAMI 38, ARMY 14 Sept. 28, 1997
MIAMI 49, AKRON 20 Sept. 14, 1997
BOWLING GREEN 28, MIAMI 21 Sept. 7, 1997
MIAMI 27, BALL STATE 10 Aug. 31, 1997
