By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BOWLING GREEN - Miami quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lived up to the hype. He threw for four touchdowns and 426 yards in 3 1/2 quarters, as the RedHawks blew out Bowling Green 49-27 before 24,813 fans Thursday night at Doyt Perry Stadium.

Miami is the Mid-American Conference Champion for the first time since 1986 - coach Terry Hoeppner's first year at Miami as an assistant.

Next up is Louisville in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 18, and two weeks' worth of questions for Roethlisberger about whether he's going to turn pro.

His final total of 440 passing yards was a MAC title game record, surpassing the 421 yards of Marshall's Byron Leftwich two years ago. Roethlisberger was not intercepted.

The field did not appear to be the factor that the RedHawks had feared. The cold and wind - it was 38 degrees for the 7:06 p.m. kickoff - firmed up the slop like a frozen candy bar and Miami sunk its teeth (and cleats) into it.

It might have been the worst thing to happen to the Falcons, because Roethlisberger was able to keep his balance and his receivers their feet.

Two fumbles by the Falcons early in the second half turned the momentum. They went from trailing by four points to down by two touchdowns with five minutes left in the third quarter.

The first turnover was particularly costly. The Falcons had just converted a third-and-9 to keep a drive alive, and appeared headed for good gain on a shovel pass to Wyoming High grad P.J. Pope, but he fumbled and Miami recovered on the Falcons' 45.

The big play for MU came when Roethlisberger, flushed out of the pocket, found receiver Cal Murray for 12 yards and a first down. Five plays later, Murray scored on a 1-yard run to put MU ahead 28-17.

Miami wasted no time making it 35-17 after recovering another Bowling Green fumble. On first-and-10, Roethlisberger pump-faked a screen right and then turned left and lofted a 33-yard completion to R.J. Corbin. Two plays later, Mike Smith scored the TD on a 13-yard run.

The Falcons kicked a field goal to make it 35-20 and recovered an onside kick, but the RedHawks' Matt Pusateri intercepted a Josh Harris bomb in the end zone at 1:10 left in the third quarter to all but seal it.

Miami had led by only 21-17 at half. BG did a nice job keeping it tight by running seven plays for 37 yards in only 42 seconds to kick a field goal with one second remaining.

Roethlisberger threw three first-half touchdowns, the longest a 53-yarder to freshman Ryne Robinson. He also connected on a 21-yarder and a 16-yarder to Matt Brandt and St. Xavier High grad Mike Larkin, respectively.

The Falcons, like four weeks ago, failed to pressure Roethlisberger and wrap him up and bring him down.

In the first half, Roethlisberger was 18-of-26 passing for 253 yards and no interceptions. Of those eight incompletions, at least two were drops. The rest were caused by tight coverage. As remarkable as it sounds, the first open receiver that Roethlisberger missed came at 12:23 of the third quarter.

Miami	7	14	21	7	-	49
Bowling Green	7	10	3	7	-	27

First Quarter

BG-Harris 6 run (Suisham kick), 11:46

Mia-Robinson 53 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 9:46

Second Quarter

BG-Sharon 7 pass from Harris (Suisham kick), 10:45

Mia-Brandt 21 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 8:56

Mia-Larkin 16 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), 4:36

BG-FG Suisham 42, :00

Third Quarter

Mia- Murray 1 run (Parseghian kick), 9:00

Mia-Smith 13 run (Parseghian kick), 4:57

BG-FG Suisham 29, 2:39

Mia-Murray 55 pass from Roethlisberger (Parseghian kick), :17

Fourth Quarter

Mia-Smith 8 run (Parseghian kick), 14:02

BG-Jarrett 3 pass from Harris (Suisham kick), 5:17

A-24,813.