By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

OXFORD - More than a quarter of a century has passed since the last time Miami opened a football season with four consecutive nonconference games.

You could make a case that it has been even longer since MU has enjoyed a run of nonconference success like the one being put together by this year's team.

Miami is 2-1 going into its annual Victory Bell battle against the archrival Cincinnati Bearcats at 2 p.m. Saturday at Yager Stadium. The RedHawks lost to Iowa, the defending Big Ten co-champion, in the season opener.

Since then, they've recorded impressive back-to-back road wins over the Big Ten's Northwestern and a solid Colorado State team led by a quarterback, Bradlee Van Pelt, many consider the equal of Miami's Ben Roethlisberger.

The RedHawks have scored more than 40 points in each of those wins while limiting their opponents to a combined 80 rushing yards on 50 carries. Northwestern and Colorado State both had rushing attacks that were ranked among the nation's top 25.

The RedHawks' recent performances, combined with their depth and the stability of their lineup, have them riding a wave of confidence that Terry Hoeppner said he hasn't seen in his previous four years as head coach.

"I think this (UC) game has a special meaning on both sides, but I think it has more for us," fifth-year senior offensive guard Frank Smith said. "The success we've had has given us a chance to do what we can do.

"I think our confidence has been high all along; even in the spring. We knew that we were a veteran team, and we knew what we could do together."

The last time the RedHawks opened the season with four nonconference games was in 1977, when they beat Dayton at home and won at Indiana and at Yale while losing at South Carolina. That was a good start, but going 4-0 in 1973 against Dayton and Marshall at home and at Purdue and South Carolina might have been even better.

That Miami team went on to finish 5-0 in the Mid-American Conference and 11-0 overall while earning its first of three consecutive Tangerine Bowl wins.

Back then, the Miami-UC game traditionally was the regular-season finale. It has been moved earlier in the season, but the RedHawks believe they're just as ready for it this year as ever, especially after facing Van Pelt, whose style resembles Bearcats junior quarterback Gino Guidugli's.

"We know Gino is a threat, both running and passing," junior strong safety Matt Pusateri said. "You have to be prepared. You've got to keep your head on a swivel."

Said Roethlisberger: "We feel confident about the way we're playing right now. We just have to come out and play the best we can. We have to come out and play Miami football."