Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
Miami University is 116 years older than a certain similarly-named school in Florida, and is in fact a larger and arguably more prestigious school. So we shall primarily refer to them as Miami, not Miami (OH), especially when discussing the MAC or non-BCS football. If we are discussing Miami (FL), they will be designated as such.
Right then. That’s about as much positive energy as we can generate for Miami. They failed to score a point in the first ten quarters of a dismal 2009 season, with their only win coming over a fairly talented Toledo team. They did come close on other occasions, losing to Temple by only two and Northern Illinois by five.
2010 offers the chance for the RedHawks to bounce back, perhaps in dramatic fashion. Experienced players are back at every offensive position, including the entire offensive line QB Zac Dysert, who may be poised for a breakout year nationally. The defense returns nine starters as well, although they will need improvement even with the experience.
Schedule
9/4/2010 at Florida
9/11/2010 Eastern Michigan
9/18/2010 Colorado State
9/25/2010 at Missouri
10/2/2010 Kent State
10/9/2010 at Cincinnati
10/16/2010 at Central Michigan
10/23/2010 Ohio
10/30/2010 at Buffalo
11/10/2010 at Bowling Green
11/17/2010 at Akron
11/23/2010 Temple
The schedule is not great for Miami, with only five home games to try to build from. But their home opener is Eastern Michigan, a team that they really should beat (Miami didn’t get a shot at 0-12 EMU last year). Colorado State, too, is trying to recover from a difficult 2009 campaign and may be vulnerable.
Coaching
Michael Haywood enters his second season as head coach hoping to make big improvements on his first. Prior to his hiring at Miami, he was offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and has coached on the offensive side at Texas and LSU.
Rankings
The MAC media has Miami ranked 5th of 7 in MAC East.
Outlook
The MAC often sees teams make dramatic turnarounds each year- Temple went from 5-7 in 2008 to 9-4 in 2009. Miami is building a talent base that could propel them into the top of the conference, although I think they may be one more year away from making that move. I think Miami should make steps in the right direction this year and win about four games.
Miami Connections
MiamiHawkTalk.com – independent message board
Oxford Press – Local coverage of the RedHawks