clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Notre Dame Football: What You Need To Know About The Miami (Ohio) Redhawks

There will be some hardcore nostalgia for this game. You can bet on that.

By Joshua Vowles
St Petersburg Bowl - Mississippi State v Miami Ohio Photo by Joseph Garnett, Jr. /Getty Images

It’s the first week of August and camp is underway for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Instead of filling your head with too much information, we offer you these choice nuggets to contemplate.

If you need an in-depth preview of the Miami-Ohio Redhawks, please check out Bill Connley’s excellent work.

Miami

It was an incredible season for the Redhawks last year. They started off the season 0-6 and then rattled off six straight wins. Bowl loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs be damned — that’s a pretty nice turnaround for Miami and head coach Chuck Martin.

5 Things You Have To Know

  1. Quarterback Gus Ragland is the fuel that the Miami offense uses to move the ball. Basically, the Redhawks were 0-6 until Ragland started to play. They went 6-1 after, and Ragland threw for over 1500 yards, 17 touchdowns, and one interception.
  2. Miami returns four of its starting offensive linemen.
  3. All of the Redhawks top running backs return. Although it wasn’t a particularly potent running attack in regards to season totals, the final 6 games saw remarkable improvement — the theme for Miami in 2016.
  4. The Redhawk defense finished 25th nationally, and they return nine starters on the unit. It will be a very veteran football team that walks into Notre Dame Stadium.
  5. Obligatory Chuck Martin reference ... this will also be a 5:00 p.m. game on NBCSN. There’s a whole lot of strangeness going on, along with a whole lot of nostalgia. Chuck Martin aside, there will be a ton of Ara Parseghian references.
NCAA Football: Central Michigan at Miami (Ohio) Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Best Case Scenario

Notre Dame is cruising at this point in the season, but has much more focus than recent Irish teams. Notre Dame puts its talent level on display against the MAC, and pours it on.

Worst Case Scenario

Regardless of Notre Dame’s record, they allow a MAC team to come into South Bend, and forget who they are and what they are doing. Mental lapses, and sloppy play in the fifth game of the season.

Early Prediction

Notre Dame 42, Miami-Ohio 21. We get a little of both. I think the Irish start the game strong, fall into a sense of comfort and slack off, and then turn it back on in the 4th quarter.

More From One Foot Down