Saturday, October 16, 2004
RedHawks want one (win) for the road
By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor
Miami seemed to overcome the turnover bug last Saturday, not allowing one for the first time all season in its win over Kent State.
The RedHawks will try to reverse another trend today at Buffalo when they go for their first win in four road games.
Miami (3-3, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) has lost at Michigan, Cincinnati and Marshall while giving up more than 30 points in each game.
The Bulls' record (1-5, 1-1) suggests they are not of the caliber of Miami's previous road opponents, and Miami has beaten them by a combined 108-3 over the last two seasons.
"It's an opponent we've beaten pretty handily at home, but we're not playing as well on the road this season, and we're going to use that," RedHawks coach Terry Hoeppner said. "We're also playing on grass - our only game on grass all year - so it's somewhat of a foreign surface to us."
The Bulls, who are young at quarterback, lean heavily on a running attack that features several ballcarriers and is the most productive in the MAC East Division.
The most recent star is sophomore Steve King, who gained 110 yards and scored two touchdowns in Buffalo's 48-20 win at home over Central Florida Oct. 2 and had 120 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries in last week's 44-21 loss at Akron.
But the Bulls don't count on just King, coach Jim Hofher said.
"For two weeks, Steven has been as productive a runner as we've had," said Hofher, who lists four tailbacks on the UB depth chart. "He's made some big plays, and he's been really consistent and steady on special teams. He's really done a good job, but we've also seen Chris McDuffie make some plays. He's a lot closer to himself than he was two weeks ago.
"Dave Dawson has more touches than any of the guys because of returning kicks, and Jared Patterson had a touchdown (against Akron) as well. We certainly need all of them."
The Bulls' passing attack features La Salle graduate Matt Knueven, who leads the team with 18 catches and 227 yards. But Buffalo is last in the MAC with an average of 137.7 passing yards per game.
Buffalo's defense includes starting linebacker Bryan Cummings, a junior from Madeira, and backup free safety Jesse Imes, a freshman from Kings.
The Bulls have forced eight fumbles and recovered all of them this season.
Miami barely survived at Buffalo in 2000, escaping with a 17-16 win, and the Bulls are celebrating Homecoming this weekend.
"This is probably the best Buffalo team we've seen in awhile," Hoeppner said. "They've been able to run the ball pretty effectively this season. We're not going to be able to go up there and sleepwalk and hope things happen for us. We're going to have to make things happen."
Miami at Buffalo
