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The Miami offensive line got healthy toward the end of the year and paved the way for 263 rushing yards against Temple. Thomas Merriweather, below, picked up 96 of his 183 rushing yards on one play. Bottom right, Austin Boucher makes a throw. Photos by Mike Smith.

“Words can’t explain what it means to me,” said offensive lineman Nate Williams as he summed up the experiences of his senior class. “We’ve been through so much.”

Ohio (8-3, 6-1 MAC) defeated MU 34-13 Oct. 23 and will face MAC West champ Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference Championship game in Detroit if the Bobcats defeat Kent State Friday. Should the Flashes, playing at home in head coach Doug Martin’s final game at the helm, pull out a victory, Miami would represent the East Division in the championship tilt.

It has hardly been a smooth road for the resurgent RedHawks, who not only had to learn how win again, but eventually began to win in spite of injuries.

Among the wounded was redshirt sophomore quarterback Zac Dysert, who ended his season following an injury Nov. 11 at Bowling Green. That moved redshirt freshman Austin Boucher into the lineup.

After guiding MU to a 19-14 win over Akron in his first start, Boucher was again efficient in the must-win matchup with Temple. He completed 15-of-28 on the night for 155 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for a net of 37 yards and had a quarterback rating of 116.5.

Asked if he was surprised by his success over two games with little previous game experience, Boucher said, “I was very pleased. I thanked God a million times for how I played, but every game I expect to do well.”

His most recent performance was more than enough on a night when the Miami defense allowed just one early field goal and the offense's running game churned out 263 yards.

We had a lot of injuries (on the offensive line) early, but (recently) we started getting guys back," Williams said. "Once we got guys back, we were able to get into a six-man rotation."

Overall, MU registered 408 total yards to 215 for the visiting Owls.

 One big chunk of Miami’s rushing total came on what Temple coach Al Golden called a “real backbreaker.” Temple trailed 16-3 with just over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter when the Owls downed a punt inches from the MU goal line. A safety or turnover would have opened up all kinds of possibilities.

But Miami (8-4, 7-1 MAC) moved the ball out to the four-yard line on two plays. Thomas Merriweather got the call on third down and broke through a hole on the left side. The 5-10, 213-pound senior found a clear lane ahead of him and was off to the races. Making a slight adjustment to avoid a would-be tackler at the Temple 10, Merriweather managed to get inside the right pylon before collapsing.

"Thomas emptied out the tank on that one... He was dead after that," chuckled Boucher while explaining the run came off a simple "read" play. "We needed that. That was huge." 

The 96-yard run tied the longest in Yager Stadium history and ranked second in Miami's all-time records.

“We had a guy out of position, and that’s all it takes,” said Golden, whose team slipped to 8-4 overall, 5-3 in the MAC.

Temple, playing without injured running back Bernard Pierce, still had a ground game weapon in sophomore Matt Brown, who came into the game averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He managed 56 yards on 14 trips (4.0) against the RedHawks.

Although the Owls picked up 112 yards on the ground, it ended up a net of 70 due to losses. Quarterback Mike Geradi was sacked seven times, losing 35 yards and netting minus-24 for the evening.

In addition to sacks – often at key times – Miami’s defense came up with a number of other big plays. Evan Harris picked off two Geradi passes and the RedHawks recovered two of three Temple fumbles.

“We had some costly penalties and costly turnovers,” said Golden while crediting the Miami defense. “Their numbers on defense (this year) are excellent.”

“Defensively, (we) really dominated from the first snap to the end of the game,” said Miami Head Coach Michael Haywood, whose name was chanted late in the contest from an appreciative student student section behind the MU bench. Individual ticket holders were still yelling “Thank you, coach” from the stands as Haywood left the field some 15 minutes after the game.

Although the Owls returned the opening kickoff to the Miami 49-yard line, they were forced to try a 47-yard field goal six plays later. McManus’ kick was wide left, but the sophomore made good on a 23-yard attempt to cap a 12-play, 73 yard drive on Temple’s next possession.

Miami came right back with its own score and took a 6-0 lead when Boucher hit freshman Nick Harwell with a 34-yard TD pass. The PAT kick failed.

Another try to split the uprights also failed midway through the second period when Temple’s Kamal Johnson blocked a 33-yard Trevor Cook field goal try.

Harris pulled in his first interception of the day and returned it 25 yards to set up another Miami score right before intermission. Boucher immediately hit Armand Robinson for 23 yards and then went back to Robinson for an eight-yard TD on the following play at 1:39. The successful PAT gave MU a 13-3 halftime advantage.

Cook, who missed several mid-season games due to a knee injury, put the hosts up 16-3 late in the third period when he converted a 21-yard field goal. It remained that way until Merriweather broke loose on his 96-yard TD run with 9:08 remaining.
Temple went three-and out on its next possession and got just two plays in before Harris ended the next would-be drive with his second interception at 4:58.

Miami turned to Merriweather - seven straight times - as the RedHawks nearly ran out the game clock. A scant nine seconds remained before Temple gained control. By that time, Haywood was wearing an extra coat – of icy water - courtesy of an appreciative team.

“Overall, it was a great team effort,” Boucher said. “We just kept going after it for 60 minutes.”

“Guys have really stepped into their roles and taken responsibility – starters and non-starters,” Williams said. “Everybody understood that we have to go out and play for Miami, because that is what we are. We are a team.”