Recap: Miami football loses field goal battle to the Bowling Green State University

Concession stand lines filled, the smell of tailgate food invaded the air and marching band music sounded. The sun shone brightly over the large, red Miami “M” on the field. A cloudless, blue sky promised a rainless football game. Mid-American Conference (MAC) action was back. 

The Miami University RedHawks and the Bowling Green State University Falcons faced off on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026 at Yager Stadium in Oxford. The RedHawks came into the game with a 2-2 record after taking down the University of Connecticut (UConn) 24-21 on Sept. 26. Bowling Green entered the week looking for its first win of the season, posting an 0-4 record. The matchup would begin MAC conference play for both teams.

While the RedHawks were the favorite to win, per ESPN, they scratched a few notable players from the game. Redshirt junior tight end Christian Ross and redshirt freshman quarterback David McComb didn’t play. McComb, who suffered an injury against UConn, was ruled out for the remainder of the season, as reported by Jeff Middleton. Senior quarterback Caleb Heavner started against the Falcons. 

Heavner made a strong impression on his first two plays on RedHawk turf. 

After an 11-yard pass to junior wide receiver Damarion Witten, Heavner showed off his mobility with a 14-yard run. A pair of 1-yard runs and a sack would force a punt to the Falcons. 

Bowling Green came down the field, slowly but surely. Junior quarterback Jay Kastantin led the team on a 10-play, 44-yard drive before turning the ball over on downs. Fifth-year senior Amariyun Knighten broke up a short pass to set Miami back up on offense. 

The team couldn’t capitalize on the change of possession. The RedHawks drove 20 yards to the Falcons’ 42-yard line before committing their second punt of the game. Senior punter Pierse Stainton pinned them within the five. It became a battle of field possession, as Bowling Green traveled 22 yards before punting back to Miami, leaving the first quarter a scoreless 0-0. 

Redshirt junior running back Rodney Nelson and Heavner got things going for Miami on its next drive to open the second quarter. He rushed right for seven yards, then,after a deep incomplete pass intended for redshirt-junior wide receiver Lynel Billups-Williams, Heavner found senior wide receiver Maleek Huggins for 13. 

The RedHawks continued marching down the field before reaching in their bag of tricks. 

At the Falcons’ 20-yard line, the RedHawks ran a hook-and-ladder trick play. Heavner fired to Witten, who cut toward the middle and lateralled the ball back to freshman wide receiver Scoop Smith running the other way for 10 yards. 

The play set up the RedHawks well within field goal range, and after encountering a fourth down at the six, redshirt-junior kicker Kellan McLaughlin made a 24-yard field goal to put up the first points of the game. Miami led 3-0 with nine minutes left in the half. 

The Falcons quickly responded. 

Sophomore running back Austyn Dendy ran for five yards, and Kastantin connected with him for a 1-yard pass, setting up a third-and-short. A defensive holding penalty on the next play would give Bowling Green a first down at its own 36. Then, disaster struck for the RedHawks. 

Kastantin completed a short pass to sophomore running back Nakai Amachree who took off down the left sideline and outran a Miami defender for a 64-yard touchdown. The Falcons took a 7-3 lead with about seven minutes left in the half. 

“We can’t give them big plays,” head coach Chuck Martin said during the postgame press conference. “The’re a team that struggles to drive the ball, so you can’t give them one play touchdown drives … we’re giving up big plays every week, so we gotta get that figured out and work very hard to get done.”

On the next drive, the RedHawks looked to make a response of their own. Heavner rushed for eight and then found Smith for eight. A 4-yard pass to Billups-Williams, a 4-yard run by Nelson and an incomplete deep shot to Smith led to another Miami punt. 

The Falcons kept rolling with the punches, completing a 9-play, 60-yard drive that ended with a 38-yard field goal from junior kicker Travis Kenner. The drive was highlighted by a 17-yard run by senior fullback Leo Kemp and a 26-yard catch-and-run by sophomore wide receiver Winn Sharp. 

Miami had one minute to work with before halftime. 

On third-and-11 from his own 31-yard line, Heavner took off for 17 yards and ran out of bounds with 24 seconds left. An offensive holding penalty and a sack set the offense back to Bowling Green’s 48, but a 25-yard pass to Witten who ran out of bounds gave the RedHawks just enough to try a field goal. 

With four seconds left, McLaughlin booted a 41-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 10-6. Eyebrows raised, Bowling Green led at halftime. 

Heavner finished the half with 78 yards in the air and no touchdowns, but 62 yards on the ground. Witten led the receiving core with three catches for 36 yards. Kastantin finished with 141 passing yards and a touchdown for the Falcons. 

Bowling Green opened up the second half with possession. Dendy rushed for 14 and Kastantin found Sharp for 8, reaching midfield. That’s all the offense would produce as Miami’s defense held strong and forced a punt. A 41-yard punt gave the RedHawks the ball, but at their own 9-yard line. 

The Bowling Green defense also held strong, sacking Heavner on third down, but a defensive holding penalty kept the drive alive. 

On the team’s own 23, Nelson rushed for three, but the offensive line received a holding penalty on the next drive, erasing the momentum. Nelson ran for five, then Heavner found Huggins for 18 to keep the drive going. 

The back-and-forth gains and losses continued. Heavner dropped back to pass and was sacked for a loss of eight, and a holding penalty on the next play set the offense back another 10 yards. On second and 28, Nelson ran right for 11 yards before getting hit as he was going out of bounds. Head coach Chuck Martin had a word with the sideline referee, seeking an unnecessary roughness penalty. 

On third and long, a 5-yard ineligible man downfield penalty set the offense back yet again. Heavner threw to Witten for 15, but it wasn’t enough to get the first down, and the RedHawks punted with five minutes left in the third quarter. The drive lasted over six minutes and consisted of nine plays and 34 yards. The RedHawks didn’t move past midfield. 

Pinned at their own 4-yard line, the Falcons went three-and-out after Kastantin was nearly sacked in his own endzone and threw the ball away. The special teams unit took the field, and Billups-Williams returned a short, 33-yard punt for 20 yards to Bowling Green’s 20-yard line. Already in field goal range, this set up a huge possession for Miami. 

The RedHawks went backwards to the 22 because of a sack on third down. McLaughlin took advantage of the clutch starting field possession and nailed a 40-yard field goal, making the score 10-9 Bowling Green. 

The Falcons concluded the third quarter with a 48-yard deep ball from Kastantin to junior wide receiver Brennan Ridley on third-and-five. A roughing the passer penalty against the RedHawk defense tacked on an extra 15 yards, setting up the Falcon offense at Miami’s 11-yard line. 

Dendy lost five yards on a pitch play and freshman wide receiver Pauly Sadler lost two yards on a pass from Kastantin, leading to a third-and-long. However, Kastantin turned the negative drive into a game-changing one. On the next play, he rolled out right and floated a 14-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Eli Jacon-Duffy. 

With the extra point good, the Falcons took a 17-9 lead with 13 minutes left in the game. 

Miami was running out of time and needed a scoring drive to stay in the game. 

After a 6-yard run from Nelson and a penalty on the Falcon defense, Billups-Williams caught a short pass and took off for 39-yards to Bowling Green’s 21-yard line. A 1-yard loss from a Nelson catch, an 8-yard pass to Witten and a 2-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Carl Jenkins set up a fourth-and-one.

Martin decided to keep the offense on the field, and redshirt-sophomore running back D’Shawntae Jones powered forward for a first down.

After a 1-yard run from Nelson, Heavner capitalized. 

Stepping up in the pocket and rolling left, he created space and threw to Billups-Williams for a 10-yard touchdown. On the two-point conversion to follow, Heavner danced in the pocket again before locating a wide open redshirt-sophomore defensive tackle Brach Rice, tying the game at 17. 

“As the quarterback was scrambling, I just thought in my head: how can I make a play, how can I make a change to this game?” Billups-Williams said. “And that’s what I did.”

Miami looked to keep the momentum with a defensive stop when Bowling Green was met with a third-and-10 on its next drive. However, a pass interference penalty on Miami gave the Falcons the ball at midfield. With six minutes remaining in the game, they kept driving. Kastantin threw to sophomore tight end Jeremiah Scoby for 16. 

At Miami’s 32-yard line, Dendy ran for two and the Miami defense earned its first sack of the game. A Kastantin incompletion set up fourth down, and the Falcons tried a 52-yard field goal. Kenner had the distance on a line-drive kick, but it was too far right and no good. The RedHawks took over possession on their own 34 with four minutes left, the game in their hands. 

Billups-Williams continued an impressive performance with a 22-yard catch, pushing the offense to the Falcons’ 42. Nelson kept the drive going with a 15-yard run on the next play. Heavner then took a deep shot to Witten and it fell incomplete, but a Bowling Green defender committed a pass interference penalty, giving Miami a first down at the 13. Nelson ran for four yards on the next play before the two-minute warning. 

Two incomplete passes toward the endzone brought up a fourth down, and Martin sent McLaughlin out for his fourth field goal of the game, this time from 28 yards out. 

The football went through the uprights, and Miami took its second lead of the game, 20-17, with under two minutes remaining. 

Still, it was too much time for the Falcons to march down the field and score, considering they had multiple timeouts to spare. 

Kastantin proved RedHawk fans wrong, leading the team on a one minute and 39-second drive that spanned 10 plays and 75 yards. The drive was capped off with a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Kemp, who barely extended the ball past the goal line with eight seconds left. 

Heavner had a chance to chuck a 44-yard hail mary pass with four seconds remaining, but was sacked once again. The clock struck zero and Bowling Green players rushed the field to celebrate their 24-20 victory over the RedHawks. 

Despite the loss, Miami produced a strong run game, led by Nelson with 72 yards on 16 carries and Heavner with 61 on 15. Heavner also threw for 198 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions on 17 completions out of 24 attempts, with the help of Billups-Williams who roped in 4 receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. 

“(I thought) Caleb competed his tail off,” coach Martin said. “I thought he made some plays, especially in the fourth quarter. Hopefully he gets better as he goes because there’s other plays we left out to (give) chances to produce plays.”

What worked for the Falcons was the passing game and defensive pressure on Heavner. Their defense tallied six sacks to Miami’s one and Karstantin threw for 305 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions on 25 completions out of 37 attempts.

“Disappointing is an understatement,” coach Martin said. “We gotta win.”

Miami experienced a tough loss, moving to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference. The team will be on the road next weekend against the University of Massachusetts on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.