Ohio Football defeats Miami in MAC Championship for first title since 1968

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DETROIT For the first time since 1968, the Ohio football team won the Mid-American Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon (December 7). Ohio defeated Miami 38-3, marking the largest margin of victory in a MAC championship. It was also the first time a team had ever been held without touchdowns in a championship game.

“It was my 36th year as a coach, 20 years here, and that was the best four quarters of football I've ever seen. It was from start to finish. Wow,” the head coach said. Tim Albin said. “I would like to congratulate Chuck Martin and his staff on their season. He got my vote for Coach of the Year. I picked him to win it all in the preseason. He is doing it the right way, both teams have great sportsmanship, And that's great.” Important. I applaud our commissioner in the letter he sent last week, and you have a great rivalry, two great fans in college football, two best defenses, two best quarterbacks, two best offensive lines, and we did that. It's the right way today.”

Miami's longest drive of the first half came right after kickoff, but after that lone field goal, Ohio was off to the races. Ohio owned the ball for just over 13 minutes of the first half, with all three drives resulting in touchdowns.

The Bobcats' first touchdown was a four-yard keeper by a graduate student quarterback Parker Navarro (Tempe, Ariz.). The second, also from Navarro, came on a 1-yard rush. The second touchdown was also the result of Ohio's longest drive of season 18, 82 yards in 10 minutes and 14 seconds.

Navarro finished the afternoon 20-for-27 through the air for 235 yards and two touchdowns. He also racked up 73 yards and the two touchdowns on the ground. Navarro was the offensive player of the game.

“I thought the offense came out sharp. The defense got stops and when you have that combination, I think we do what we did today, which is score a lot of points and allow very few,” Navarro said.

That drive was made possible by the legwork of a graduate student running back Anthony Tyus III (Portage, Mich.), who burst through the RedHawks' defense for 34 yards on eight carries. Tyus finished the afternoon with 151 total rushing yards on 27 attempts.

Miami's most substantial performance of the second quarter ended on one set of downs.

Ohio came out of the locker room with the same fire in the second half. For the fourth straight drive, Ohio found the end zone on a 25-yard reception by a graduate student Coleman Owen (Gilbert, Ariz.)

The Bobcats also scored on the next drive. This time, however, it was a field goal for the second half of his career Gianni Spetic (Chardon, Ohio). His 52-yard boot beat his previous record of 46 yards, set earlier this season at Central Michigan. Spetic finished the afternoon 1-for-1 and 5-for-5 in PATs and was named Special Teams Player of the Game.

“Earlier my PATs looked good. I was a little nervous going there,” Spetic said. “I was in a rush. I was nervous just because I didn't know if I had that much time to breathe and whatever. I went outside and everything disappeared, and I just got into it.”

Ohio's offensive prowess was helped in part by its defense. Graduate student defensive end

Blake Leak (Culpepper, Va.) led Ohio with eight tackles. Redshirt junior Shay Taylor (Sheridan, Ohio) and redshirt senior New parody (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) followed close behind with five each. Redshirt junior defensive end Bradley Weaver (Hilliard, Ohio) also earned Defensive Player of the Game nominations for his contributions, including a tackle for a loss of four yards.

Senior cornerback Tank from Pearson (Oxford, Miss.) Interception saved what would have been a Miami touchdown early in the fourth quarter. That gave way to Tyus, who rushed to the end zone to punctuate the Bobcats' victory.

“I had a little pep talk for my guys on defense,” Weaver said. “Two years ago we didn't do so well in the hotel with our walk just because of our mental preparation. We actually thought we had it in the bag. I think we started celebrating a little too quickly. I said to my guys in that D conference room at the end of the movie: “We're locked in, this is a business trip until the clock hits zero across the board, until then we're not celebrating.”

The champion Bobcats have one more stop in their third straight 10-win season. The Bobcats travel to Orlando, Florida on December 20 for the StaffDNA Cure Bowl. For more information about the Cure Bowl, visit CureBowl.com.

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