Saturday, September 11, 1999
Miami takes giant-shrinking machine to West Virginia
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Miami University opened the season by putting a 25-point loss on a Big Ten team (Northwestern) on the road. What do the RedHawks do for encore?
Play better if they want to win, says coach Terry Hoeppner.
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THE SKINNY
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• Kickoff: Noon today at Mountaineer Field (63,500), Morgantown, W.Va.
• Records: MU 1-0,
WVU 0-1.
• TV: Channel 13 in Oxford; Channel 69 on Time Warner (pay-per-view).
• Radio: WCKY-AM (1360), WMOH-AM (1450), WFMG-FM (101.3).
• Series: 0-0-1 (last: 1992, Tie 29-29).
• Line: West Virginia 41/2.
• What to watch: West Virginia quarterback Marc Bulger is good. He threw for 3,607 yards last year, completed 65 percent of his passes and had 31 touchdowns versus 10 interceptions. Miami had five sacks against Northwestern, but Bulger's forte is the quick release. So the defensive backs should get a test. West Virginia had trouble tackling in its opening loss to East Carolina. That's great news for Travis Prentice. He had 153 yards against Northwestern and considered it a mediocre day.
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Miami goes to Morgantown to play West Virginia in the Mountaineers' home opener. West Virginia lost at East Carolina 30-23 to open the season.
But, Hoeppner says, West Virginia is better team than that.
“They're very talented,” Hoeppner said. “We're going to have to play better than we did the first week to win.”
West Virginia's problem in the East Carolina game was tackling. The Mountaineers allowed 327 yards rushing. That would seem to fit Miami's game plan perfectly.
The RedHawks, of course, have Travis Prentice, the nation's leading returning rusher, a 228-pound weightlifter who routinely runs through tackles.
Prentice had 153 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries in the opener against Northwestern. The strength of Northwestern's team is its defensive front seven.
And, Hoeppner says, Prentice had a difficult time getting in the flow against Northwestern.
“(Prentice) wasn't very satisfied,” Hoeppner said. “I talked to him Saturday because he had a look of frustration on his face. It's difficult to get in rhythm when you haven't been tackled for so long.”
As Prentice goes, so goes Miami. He has a string of eight 100-yard-plus games. Miami, not coincidently, has an eight-game winning streak.
When Prentice did get rolling in the second half against Northwestern, the Wildcats put eight men at the line of scrimmage. Then MU quarterback Mike Bath burned them.
Bath's 252 yards passing were the most by a Miami QB since 1997.
“Until they were throwing for 200-some yards in the air, we thought maybe it would be a little different game plan,” said West Virginia coach Don Nehlen. “Going into the season and talking to people in that league, they didn't think that would be the case. But now the fact that they're throwing the football so well makes it more difficult in knowing exactly what to do.”
The bigger challenge for Miami against West Virginia will be defensively. WVU quarterback Marc Bulger is among the nation's best.
He holds 22 WVU records. He threw for 3,607 yards and 31 TDs last year. He completed more than 65 percent and was intercepted only 10 times.
“He's an incredible quarterback, probably the quickest release I've seen,” Hoeppner said.
Miami's defensive backs weren't tested much by Northwestern, largely because the defense put so much pressure on the quarterback.
The Mountaineers haven't opened the season 0-2 since 1979. They haven't lost to a MAC team since 1945.
Miami has played WVU once. The teams played to a 19-19 tie in 1992.
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