Quick Hitters

Quick Hitters

Football notes

Published: 2011-09-15


Adam Richard

arichard@mndaily.com




-The last time Miami of Ohio came to Minnesota was 2007, a game that needed three overtimes before Minnesota came out on top 41-35.

The Gophers are 26-4-1 all time against Mid-American Conference opponents and 2-0 against the RedHawks

-Junior MarQueis Gray found his rushing legs during the fourth quarter in last week’s game against NMSU. He carried the ball nine times for 61 yards and picked up three first downs, all on the ground.

-Redshirt Freshman Donnell Kirkwood is “healthy, ready to go,” offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said Tuesday. As a true freshman last year, Kirkwood averaged nearly 4 yards per carry and should help improve Minnesota’s rush offense.

“We’ve got to be able to run the ball better, other than MarQueis,” Limegrover added

-Miami’s junior quarterback Zac Dysert stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and has two years of experience.

He has put up similar numbers in his first two years to previous Miami of Ohio standout Ben Roethlisberger, with more than 5,000 yards passing, 260 yards per game and 63 percent completion rate.

-The RedHawks’ new head coach, Don Treadwell, was the offensive coordinator at Michigan State previously.

Michigan State finished third and second in passing offense in the Big Ten the last two years, respectively.

“I’m really worried about that to start the game, how fast they change tempos,” defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys said.

“You’re going to see a lot of empty backfield sets. Those all take special adjustments.”

-The RedHawks sacked the quarterback 35 times last year and returned all of their defensive line starters. It’s an area where Miami will have a distinct advantage over Minnesota, which has no sacks this season, and only eight all of last year.

-The RedHawks’ defense improved as the game progressed last week against the Missouri Tigers. It allowed more than six yards per carry (6.30) in the first half, but limited the Tigers to less than 3 yards per carry (2.69) in the second half.

-Miami of Ohio’s defense held No. 21 Missouri to only 23 percent conversion rate on third downs.

The Gophers have allowed a third-down conversion rate of 40 percent to their two opponents but improved from the first to second week — 46 percent against USC was down to 33 percent against NMSU.

“I know defensively third downs, we played much better on third downs. At the same time we didn’t stop the run as well as we had before,” Claeys said

-Last week, NMSU came to TCF Bank Stadium with only 6 yards rushing (and 0.3 yards per carry) before lighting up the Gophers for 133 yards rushing.

Miami carried the ball 36 times for only 76 yards last week. Sophomore Erik Finklea tallied 71 of those yards on 19 carries. Defensive lineman Brandon Kirksey said the defensive unit knows it needs to improve to keep Minnesota in games.



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