By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

OXFORD - When Ohio University held Miami on its first possession of the second half, then scored on its longest play of the season to pull within 15, the specter of Northern Illinois crept into the minds of many on hand Saturday at Yager Stadium.

The last time Miami played at home, the RedHawks blew a 20-point third-quarter lead and suffered a seven-point loss to the Huskies.

This time, though, the RedHawks were determined to avoid that ending.

Taking heart in an OU missed extra point, Miami put together a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended on Mike Smith's 1-yard TD plunge, sending the RedHawks on their way to a 38-20 victory over OU.

"That was a big drive," Miami coach Terry Hoeppner said. "We go right back down and make it 35-13. That's huge."

The RedHawks improved to 7-3 overall and 5-1 in the Mid-American Conference East Division, leapfrogging Marshall for first place. The Thundering Herd (6-2, 4-1), ranked 25th in the USA Today/ESPN poll, lost to Akron 34-20.

Miami is scheduled to visit Marshall for an ESPN-televised game Nov.12.

Hoeppner hoped to see his team put together a complete home game for the first time this season, but he seemed bound to be frustrated after Ohio's Jason Caesar returned the opening kickoff 71 yards to the Miami 29. The Bobcats then scored on Stafford Owens' 20-yard burst on a left-end pitchout on fourth-and-1.

But the RedHawks' defense buckled down. Miami limited Ohio to just one first down - by penalty - for the rest of the first half. The Bobcats, who scored 50 or more points in their previous two games, gained just 52 yards of total offense to the RedHawks' 270 in the first half.

"We knew what we had to do," Miami sophomore defensive back Matt Pusateri said. "We lost our momentum against NIU. We lost our pride. We wanted to come out and prove ourselves."

The RedHawks responded to Owens' touchdown with an 11-play, 88-yard scoring drive.

Junior running back Cal Murray started the march with a 23-yard run up the Miami sideline. A helmet-to-helmet hit at the end of the run sent Murray to the hospital on a backboard, but tests showed no serious damage. Murray was back on the RedHawks' sideline by the fourth quarter.

"He broke out and gave us room to work," said Miami sophomore quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was 21-of-31 passing for 248 yards and two touchdowns. "We were saying: `There's a fallen soldier. He started the drive; we've got to finish it.'"

Roethlisberger did just that with a 13-yard pass to sophomore Michael Larkin, who slipped a tackle on his way to the end zone.

Ohio then fumbled twice in its next three plays, and Miami converted with touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards by junior running back Luke Clemens, opening up a 21-7 lead. The RedHawks expanded the lead to 28-7 by halftime as Ohio's option-oriented offense was forced to pass.

Bobcats quarterback Fred Ray's 19 passes were more than Ohio had thrown in its previous three games combined. His 62-yard TD pass to Owens was the Bobcats' longest play this season.

"When you only get two first downs in the first half against a team like this, you're lucky to only be down by as much as we were down at halftime," Ohio coach Brian Knorr said.

Ohio	7	0	6	7-20
Miami	14	14	7	3-38

First Quarter

OU-Owens 20 run (Kerr kick), 13:13.

Mia-Larkin 13 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 2:57.

Mia-Clemens 2 run (Parseghian kick), 1:03.

Second Quarter

Mia-Clemens 5 run (Parseghian kick), 14:24.

Mia-Larkin 5 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 2:02.

Third Quarter

OU-Owens 62 pass from Ray (kick failed), 8:09.

Mia-Smith 1 run (Parseghian kick), 3:16.

Fourth Quarter

OU-Brinker 4 pass from Ray (Kerr kick), 14:29.

Mia-FG Parseghian 7:25.

A-27,253.

	OU	Mia
First downs	12	25
Rushes-yards	33-151	46-165
Passing	138	248
Comp-Att-Int	11-19-0	21-31-0
Return Yards	11	3
Punts-Avg.	5-37.2	3-35.7
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Penalties-Yards	4-50	3-25
Time of Possession	23:00	37:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Ohio, Brinker 13-64, Ray 14-45, Owens 5-39, Roush 1-3. Miami, Ohio, Clemens 28-97, Smith 11-45, Murray 1-23, Hunter 1-12, Wallace 2-4, Roethlisberger 3-(minus 16).

PASSING-Ohio, Ray 11-19-0-138. Miami, Ohio, Roethlisberger 21-31-0-248.

RECEIVING-Ohio, Roush 2-31, Mohler 2-14, Caesar 2-11, Brinker 2-6, Owens 1-62, Hackett 1-7, Ingram 1-7. Miami, Ohio, Larkin 5-45, Brandt 4-53, Henderson 4-46, Clemens 4-17, Tillitz 2-20, Nance 1-57, Kirkpatrick 1-10.