Middleton’s Musings: The Miami football team is walking a dangerous line with inconsistent performances and no more David McComb

Welcome to “Middleton’s Musings,” a new weekly sports column on all things Miami and Talawanda sports from Sports Editor Jeff Middleton. We’ll talk about all the current goings-on within the Oxford sports universe, and we (may) have some disagreements along the way, both in print and online, but I’m excited you’re here!

—

“Disappointed. Obviously our team wasn’t prepared to play Pitt in this environment. And structurally what they did against us, we were not prepared. It starts and ends with me. I know we’re better than this … My job is to get us to play well, and we didn’t play well. It’s a long season, but there’s a lot of areas we’ve got to be better at before we can even be good.”

That was Miami University football head coach Chuck Martin following a 59-14 drubbing to the University of Pittsburgh Panthers at Acrisure Stadium.

“I can’t really think of a harder loss I’ve had in 30-whatever years, man.”

That was Martin two weeks later following the RedHawks' collapse at TQL Stadium against the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. 

“Just not good enough. Very disappointed. We had a chance to be 1-0 in the league and keep some momentum going. It’s very difficult to lose to a team that everybody in your locker room thinks you should beat and we should’ve beat. They outplayed us, and they deserved the win.”

That was Martin last week following a late 24-20 loss to 0-4 Bowling Green State University to begin the RedHawks’ Mid-American Conference (MAC) slate.

These quotes are sprinkled between two wins against the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Connecticut, and even though that context is important, it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) really change much for Miami football fans. 

This 2-3 RedHawks team and coaching staff are walking a dangerous line with inconsistent moments in disappointing performances. And now with redshirt freshman quarterback David McComb out for the season, things need to turn around … fast. 

When McComb left the game against the UConn Huskies due to an injury appearing to deal with his leg or knee, the hope was that he would be well enough to return soon and Miami could hold on to the victory. 

Only one of those came true. 

Martin announced on the Oct. 1 edition of the HawkTalk podcast that McComb would be out for the rest of the season, and that news took the Miami fanbase and the MAC as a whole by storm. 

Even after a game against Bowling Green with McComb out due to injury, he sits third in the MAC in passing yards and touchdowns with the fifth fewest attempts. He was the catalyst for a very strong Miami wide receiver group, and now, changes will have to be made. 

With redshirt sophomore quarterback Thomas Gotkowski sidelined for the season before games even got underway, now the ball falls to senior Caleb Heavner. And while he could be serviceable under center, he also doesn’t possess the arm talent that either Gotkowski or McComb has. 

For a pass-heavy offense that sits second in the MAC in yardage, average yards per game and passing touchdowns but is seventh in overall attempts, it does not bode well for the rest of the year.

The injuries in the quarterback room will exacerbate the problems, but they were already there to begin with – team inconsistency or flat-out poor play in areas of the game being the worst of them. 

Miami’s run game is second to last in every single major stat, including total yardage and per-game average in the MAC. 

The only team worse? Bowling Green. 

Miami is the worst team in the MAC in pass defense, having allowed 1,450 total yards on 120 completions, good for 290 yards per game. The next-worst team, the University of Buffalo, allows 246.8.

The RedHawks are also 11th of 13 teams in the MAC in field goal percentage with the most attempts, primarily due to redshirt junior Kellan McLaughlin’s 0-for-2 day against UConn and 1-for-3 day against Cincinnati. Fortunately, he bounced back with a 4-for-4 day against Bowling Green, but his effort still wasn’t enough because of inconsistencies elsewhere on the field and on the sideline. 

The whole situation for the RedHawks football team comes down to this: When one light switch is turned on one week, there’s one (or more) that gets turned off elsewhere at the same time. 

At Pitt, the defense, particularly the secondary, was torched. They gave up 33 first downs, 480 passing yards (and 166 on the ground for a total of 646) and seven touchdown passes. McComb looked decent in his first college game. He didn’t look like a world beater, but he battled and showed that there was reason to trust him.

Against Holy Cross, McComb was phenomenal. The defense was really strong. The run game was great. However, there is quite the gap between Miami’s skill and that of the Crusaders, putting somewhat of an asterisk on the week-by-week believability of the performance.

In the final Battle for the Victory Bell, the Miami offense looked lethal. McComb threw for 334 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another. Senior wide receiver Maleek Huggins caught four passes for 128 yards, and junior wideout Damarion Witten hauled in three for 84 yards. 

But the field goal unit and the defense struggled in the second half. Key kicks down the stretch were missed, and the defense couldn’t get off the field in the second half, with the Bearcats going 7-for-11 through the game on third down. Despite being up 28-7 at half, the RedHawks lost 35-31.

The next week was a tight game against UConn in which Miami was down 14-0 at one point. The offense tied the contest back up by halftime, but following McComb’s injury, the game felt like a war of attrition.

McComb threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for one as well. But the run game was abysmal. On 29 attempts, Miami finished with 89 net yards on the ground, with the majority of them coming from McComb himself. The next highest was redshirt junior running back Rodney Nelson with 29 yards on 12 attempts. 

And there was the kicking issue, with McLaughlin missing both field goals and Martin deciding to go to freshman Brady Stidham to kick the game-winner. 

Then came the abysmal loss to winless Bowling Green, who posted 305 yards passing to Miami’s 198, and 62 rushing yards to Miami’s 108. 

The biggest inconsistency and/or disappointment from the team’s first MAC game, though, came on the sideline. 

Confusion fell around Yager Stadium and among those watching as to why Martin elected to pass the ball instead of run it within the redzone on second and third down. The Falcons would have had to use two of their timeouts on their final drive, and the result likely would have been the same: a field goal to make the score 20-17 Miami. 

However, instead of having just one timeout with 1:47 remaining, the Falcons had three and used two on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a game-winning touchdown. 

Now, the RedHawks face the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, who are 4-1 on the season and coming off a loss to Eastern Michigan University. 

When the offense has found itself, it’s only been partial, and the kicking or the defense struggles. When the defense plays well, the rush offense and kicking are poor. When the offense is running on all cylinders and the defense is too, the kicking falls off. Or when all else fails, there’s a perplexing choice made on a drive that doesn’t compute. 

These problems are not cohesive with a program that can end up at the top of the MAC this season. 

And through all of those issues, there have been decisions from the sideline that have caused an uproar and confusion amongst the Miami faithful. 

The key ones for fans have been electing to kick a field goal against Cincinnati on fourth down from the one yard line to make the game 31-21 instead of going for a touchdown with a humming offense. Then, missing the next field goal after forcing a Bearcats fumble. The miss is not the fault of the coach, of course, but the score could have been 35-21 and the missed field goal would not have mattered. 

Then, not running the ball against the worst rush defense in the MAC for two straight downs with less than two minutes left, which would have forced the Falcons to use timeouts. At worst, you end up with the same three points, while putting the opposition at a further disadvantage caused even more. At best? You score a touchdown and give yourself an even better chance at a win.

All of these issues are compounding, and for a RedHawks program that has plenty of resources to be not just competing in the MAC championship every season, but also winning games like they could have against Cincinnati, the level of play has not been good enough. 

The level of play has not been consistent enough. 

The players are on the field, and they have to make the plays. However, as Martin has said before, everything starts with the head coach.

If these issues aren’t sorted, it won’t be long until more people have even more to say about who is in charge and what the athletic department needs to do about it.