By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

OXFORD - When Terry Hoeppner said Monday that "a bowl game has got to be on the horizon," it wasn't just wishful thinking.

The Miami football coach knew an invitation from the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., was imminent. Murray Cape, chairman of the bowl's selection committee, made it official Tuesday with an announcement in front of Miami president Dr. James Garland, athletic director Brad Bates, other Miami officials and the RedHawks team, which was kneeling on the cold, windswept field at Yager Stadium.

"I hope it will be a little warmer in Mobile than it is in Oxford," Garland said with a smile.

The 10-1 RedHawks will face the second choice of Conference USA - most likely either Texas Christian or Southern Mississippi - Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the fifth annual GMAC Bowl at 40,646-seat Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Miami's eighth bowl appearance and first since 1986 is scheduled to be televised on ESPN2.

Pete Rose will be the featured speaker at one of the bowl-related luncheons.

"Our goal at the beginning of the year was to play 14 games, and now that's a reality," said Hoeppner, who was in his first year as a Miami assistant when the RedHawks made their last bowl appearance, a 37-7 loss to San Jose State in the California Bowl. "If you play 14, that means that something good has happened. On my to-do list on my desk, after 'Play 14,' I had written 'GMAC Bowl.' This is a good team, and they're being rewarded by playing in December.

"This is the bowl game I wanted," he added.

Said fourth-year junior quarterback Ben Roethlisberger: "We're very excited. This is a chance to keep the dream season going, hopefully. It's a big thing for my class and the seniors. ... This is what we've waited for for a long time."

The GMAC and Detroit's Motor City Bowl are the only two bowl games with tie-ins to the Mid-American Conference. The GMAC gets the first pick, and Cape and his committee didn't waste any time settling on the RedHawks, who are ranked 13th in the Bowl Championship Series ratings, 15th in the Associated Press poll and 16th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll.

"I've been watching Miami from the beginning of the season," Cape said. "They are a special team. There was no hesitation about picking them."

Added Bates: "He means literally from the beginning of the season. He was here for our home opener. We knew we had a good team, and we proved that."

The RedHawks have reeled off 10 consecutive wins since losing the season opener at Iowa. The streak has produced the school's first MAC East Division championship and a berth in the conference championship game Dec. 4 at either Toledo or Bowling Green, which will settle the West Division on Saturday.

Nobody has waited longer for a bowl than Hoeppner and strength coach Dan Dalrymple, who played on Miami's 1986 team.

"I can remember the last one," Hoeppner said. "We've been so close. We were 10-1 in 1998 and very deserving, but it didn't happen."