By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

In the wee hours Friday morning, driving through a hard, wind-blown snow that was just beginning to stick to I-75, the Miami faithful who had stopped for a post-game meal before heading home, had to laugh.

One of the co-hosts of ESPN's Game Night radio talk-show referred to RedHawks quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as "an intern at ESPN."

That's the "joke going around ESPN," noted the co-host about the RedHawks star who has been a weekly guest on the show.

It also could be because four of Miami's games have been on ESPN2. Roethlisberger has put on a glittering show in the last three of them, with not only huge offensive numbers but also a polish that portends his predicted exit to the NFL after Miami plays Louisville in the GMAC Bowl Dec. 18 in Mobile, Ala.

It wasn't Roethlisberger or coach Terry Hoeppner who was making that prediction. All one had to do was watch. ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit make that point Thursday night as he walked out of Bowling Green's Doyt Perry Stadium after watching the RedHawks demolish the Falcons 49-27 for the Mid-American Conference title.

Roethlisberger threw four touchdown passes to four receivers, en route to 440 passing yards and a new MAC title game record. The previous mark of 421 yards was set by current Jacksonville Jaguars QB and former Marshall star Byron Leftwich. "He's as good as Leftwich right now," Herbstreit said. "He's ready now (for the NFL) . . . He and (Ole Miss') Eli Manning are the two best I've seen."

Herbstreit has seen a lot of Roethlisberger. So, too, has his head coach.

"Incredible accuracy, incredible ability to improvise in the pocket," Hoeppner said of Roethlisberger's strengths. "I don't know if anybody can find that open receiver as well as Ben when everything is chaos. He'd do things like sprint to the right, not see an open guy and then throw it back to the tailback who's really not a receiver in the play. As a coach, I'd like to take credit, but we didn't draw up those things."

There was a day when Miami toiled in relative national anonymity, except for a seemingly annual upset of a heavily favored opponent. But the success of the 2003 team - the first since 1986 to win a MAC title - and most notably its star QB, has been a very public unveiling.

The top three collegiate quarterbacks in the country, according to experts, are Manning, Roethlisberger and Oklahoma's Jason White.

"I know which one I'm going to pick first," Hoeppner said. "He's inspiring. He gives us all confidence."

The ESPN radio guys were saying early Friday that NFL-draft guru Mel Kiper has already declared Roethlisberger a first-rounder if he enters the draft and that the only possible knock on him is that he's a bit "long" in his throwing motion.

Roethlisberger has remained noncommittal about coming out early.

He is having a blast running the show, is focused on his team running the table after a season-opening loss at Iowa, and he is savoring the team's success.

The show he put on Thursday night came in front of a lot of his hometown fans. They were from nearby Findlay, where Roethlisberger was born and played high school ball. Findlay is only 25 miles south of Bowling Green It was an almost all-Ohio show Thursday night. The TD passes were caught by Michael Larkin (St. Xavier grad), Ryne, Robinson (Toledo), and Cal Murray (Dublin). Only the senior tight Matt Brandt broke the mold (Toronto, Canada).

"There's no such thing as a broken play with this offense," Larkin said.

And what did Roethlisberger have to say about it all?

"I still have a white jersey," he said, praising his offensive line. "I hit the ground only twice. One was on an option, one was on a late hit."

Mid-week monster

In three midweek games - Nov. 4 vs. Bowling Green, Nov. 12 vs. Marshall, and Thursday vs. Bowling Green, Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns and 952 yards, with only one interception. He was 63-of-92 passing (68 percent).

Next for Miami

What: GMAC Bowl, Mobile, Ala.

Opponent: Louisville.

When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18.

TV: ESPN2.