The Associated Press

Playing on the road in front of a small crowd wasn't a problem for the Mid-American Conference's hottest team.

Ben Roethlisberger's four touchdown passes set up a 49-31 victory over Ohio on Saturday that kept Miami on quite a roll.

The RedHawks have won 10 in a row for the first time since 1975, and Sunday they moved up three places to 15th in the Associated Press poll.

The RedHawks complete the regular season with a game at Central Florida Friday, then will face the winner of this week's Bowling Green-Toledo game in the MAC championship game Dec. 4.

The RedHawks (10-1, 7-0) have been remarkably consistent as they've overwhelmed one opponent after another.

"The way these guys approach it, they give me so much confidence on a weekly basis hanging around the team," coach Terry Hoeppner said. "The only time I get a little worried is when I'm not around them, when I give them a day off."

They haven't had an off day since the season opener, a 21-3 loss to Iowa.

Since then, they've shattered all sorts of school records.

Their latest was one of their easiest. Depleted Ohio (2-9, 1-6) has lost 11 players to season-ending injuries, including all four starting linebackers and two of their backups.

The Bobcats tried four quarterbacks Saturday, looking for a spark. None could keep up with Roethlisberger, one of the top passers in conference history.

Saturday, Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes of 33, 28 and 17 yards in the first half for a 35-10 lead.

Some of the 14,327 fans left after Ohio's band performed at halftime.

"You saw No. 7, what a great job he does not only as an offensive leader but as a team leader," Hoeppner said.

Roethlisberger's 2-yard touchdown pass to Martin Nance made it 49-10 with 39 seconds left in the third quarter, the most points by one team in the 58-year rivalry.

"That's a key quality that this team has, not to let the crowd affect us positively or negatively," said Roethlisberger, who was 19-of-28 for 294 yards in three quarters.

"You never know what kind of crowd you're going to get - it could be hostile, it could be no crowd.

"We don't care if we play in front of nobody. We're out there playing for ourselves and nobody else."

The approach is working. Miami is averaging 40 points per game, has topped 40 points eight times, and has topped 5,000 yards on offense for the first time in school history. The 448 total points also are a school record.

Longest win streaks

Year	Streak	Record
1973	11	11-0
1975	10	11-1
2003	10	10-1
1977	9	10-1
1974	9	10-0-1
1955	9	9-0

Remaining games

Friday	At Cent. Florida (3-8)
Dec. 4	MAC title game