Know Your Enemy: Miami University

Kickoff may still be months away, but its never too early to start looking ahead and the ol' schedule to get those hate juices flowing. I've taken a look at our first opponent in the glorious reign of King Urbz, the Miami University Redskins Redhawks. I've even broken everything down FAQ style.

Q: So just who is this Miami University? Didn't we just play them?

A: No, that was the University of Miami, although I can understand if you decided to block that game out of your memory. Miami University, of course, is one of our little cousins, a state school in Oxford, OH. They play in the MAC, and will surely grace your TV on at least one non-Saturday this fall.

Q: So what is Miami known for?

A: Miami is actually a pretty good school! It was named one of the original "public ivies", and is only a little behind Ohio State in the latest US News rankings. Miami is the alma mater of President Harrison, humorist P.J O'Rouke, US Rep Paul Ryan, and the largest collection of North Face jackets in the midwest. Also, they're apparently fond of green beer. Gross.

Q: Uh, that's cool I guess...Anything related to football?

A: Glad you asked! Big Ben played there of course, but Miami is best known as the Cradle of Coaches, since so many famous football coaches started there, only to find better jobs somewhere else. The list includes guys like Paul Brown, Saint Woody, Bo Schembechler, Saint Tressel, Sean Payton and Randy Walker.

Q: Wow, that's a pretty damn impressive list.

A: Yeah, but Ron Zook is also on it, so I guess it's kind of a wash.

Q: Do they have a cool mascot?

A: Eh, kind of. Miami goes by the Redhawks, although that's been a fairly recent change. The school traditionally went by the Redskins nickname, until the Miami tribe withdrew their support in 1997...Because naming your football the Redskins is kinda racist.

Q: Are they any good?

A: They weren't that great last year, but the MAC is crazy, so who knows what that means for this year. The Redhawks were 4-8 last season, won 10 games in 2010, and were pretty terrible for a few years before that. SBN's own Bill Connelly thought that the Redhawks were more unlucky than bad last year, and with them returning so much of a fairly decent defense, they may be a sleeper to win the MAC East. Miami is actually pretty experienced all along the board, as they may potentially start 13 Seniors. The Redhawks had a pretty bad offensive line last year though, giving up a sack on nearly 10% of all passing attempts. They'll have to improve that in a hurry, or OSU's monster line might paralyze Zac Dysert.

Miami will need to do well in conference play, since an out of conference schedule that features Boise State and Cincinnati as well as the Bucks will do them no favors.

Miami gets Akron and Buffalo (two pretty crappy MAC teams on the road, and Ohio and Kent State at home, so if they can hit their MAC slate with everybody healthy, they could make a run at a bowl game.

Q: So for all the harumphing OSU got for their schedule, they may face 3 bowl teams before B1G play?

A: I think that is certainly possible. None of them are likely to be playing on New Years, but it isn't like OSU is opening the season with Johnstown High School.

Q: What's the history between these two schools?

A: in 2005, OSU beat a decent (7-4) Miami team, 34-14. They won again in 2000 (26-14), and 80-0 way back in 1904.

Q: So we're going to win.

A: Of course we're going to win.