Wes Williams (9) was all over the field in Miami of Ohio's upset win over Ohio. (Rob Leifheit-US PRESSWIRE)
OXFORD, Ohio — Miami University stunned previously undefeated Ohio University 23-20 on Saturday afternoon in the 89th Battle of the Bricks at Yager Stadium.
The 24th-ranked Bobcats, in field-goal range from the Miami 7-yard line with nine seconds to go, did the one thing they couldn’t afford to do. Quarterback Tyler Tettleton was sacked by Wes Williams and the clock ran out with Ohio out of timeouts.
“Obviously, with no timeouts left, you don’t have a chance to tell Tyler to throw the ball out of bounds,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “We wanted to win it right there and nine seconds is plenty of time to get a play off.”
The Bobcats, who lost to Miami for the first time in six years, dropped to 7-1 overall and likely out of the top 25. Ohio couldn’t recover from an early 13-0 deficit.
“Obviously a big win for our program,” Miami coach Don Treadwell said. “We anticipated this type of a game from the days when many of us on staff were former players here. These are the kinds of games we remember.”
Kaleb Patterson’s 31-yard field goal with 3:17 remaining proved to be the difference in the game. He finished 3 of 3 on field-goal attempts.
Miami, which led 20-14 at halftime, snapped a two-game losing streak and is now back in the Mid-American Conference title hunt at 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the conference. The RedHawks last beat a ranked opponent Dec. 3, 2010, in the MAC Championship game against then-No. 25 Northern Illinois.
Miami leaned on quarterback Zac Dysert, who passed for 311 yards while completing 21 of 36 with a touchdown and an interception.
“Right now, I just can’t say enough about my guys,” said Dysart, a senior. “I’m so proud of them. The strides we’ve made, the struggles we’ve been through and how we fought through.”
Dysert moved past Doug Flutie, Matt Leinart and Chad Pennington on the NCAA FBS career-passing list to No. 52 overall with 10,755 yards. He needs 75 more yards to pass school record-holder Ben Roethlisberger.
Miami junior Nick Harwell led all receivers with eight catches for 138 yards. He scored the RedHawks’ first touchdown of the game on a 54-yard pass from Dysert with 6:33 left in the first quarter. It was the team’s longest scoring play of the season.
Miami’s defense, which entered the game ranked 115th overall in the FBS allowing 500.14 yards per game, had a season-high six sacks for 44 yards. Chris Wade led the RedHawks in tackles for the seventh consecutive game with 11. Senior defensive end Jason Semmes had a team-high two sacks.
Ohio finished with 464 yards of offense and Miami had 424.
Tettleton finished 23-of-38 passing for 302 yards with a rushing touchdown and no interceptions. The junior scored on a 3-yard scramble in the second quarter.
Ryan Boykin and Beau Blankenship combined for 148 yards rushing. Blankenship found the end zone from 5 yards late in the first quarter.
Two second-half Matt Weller field goals rounded out Ohio’s scoring.
“We just go back to what we’ve been about since they stepped on campus,” Solich said. “We’ve got a tough stretch ahead of us. We’re going to play three games in 12 days, so that’s not easy for any football team. We’ll line up and be focused on Eastern Michigan and do the best we can to prepare for them and to play football against them, and hopefully get a win.”
Notes: Ohio’s Beau Blankenship became the eighth player in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. … Miami’s crowd of 19,326 was its largest of the season. … Dysert’s 300-yard performance was the 17th of his career at Miami. … The RedHawks entered the game with six sacks through its first seven games and had six against Ohio on Saturday. … Ohio senior kicker Matt Weller scored eight points and moved into second on the MAC’s career scoring list. … Tyler Tettleton’s 300-yard passing effort moved him into second on Ohio’s career passing yards list.
