Miami of Ohio and Colorado State will try to overcome notable transfer-portal defections during Saturday’s Arizona Bowl at Tucson, Ariz.
Miami (8-5) enters the game without its top two wide receivers Javon Tracy and Reggie Virgil after the duo elected to play elsewhere.
Tracy, a redshirt sophomore who caught 57 passes for 818 yards with seven touchdowns, is moving on to Minnesota. Virgil, a junior who tallied 816 yards on 41 receptions with nine touchdowns, is bound for Texas Tech.
“It’s kind of insane, to be honest,” Miami coach Chuck Martin said. “We’ll lose some real good kids in the portal, but we’ll also gain some good ones. It’s just crazy.
“In some ways, it stinks, but in some ways, it’s fun, too. We’re looking at a lot of some good ones.”
Miami has also lost two cornerbacks, including sophomore Raion Strader to Auburn. Strader had 53 tackles with two interceptions and a team-best 17 passes broken up.
Will Jados, a redshirt junior offensive tackle who started 38 games for Miami, is transferring to Texas Tech.
Colorado State (8-4) also lost its two top receivers in the portal. Sophomore Caleb Goodie committed to Cincinnati and sophomore Jamari Person remains undecided.
Goodie caught 21 passes for 436 yards with four touchdowns, and Person had 36 receptions for 386 yards and a touchdown.
Another sophomore, linebacker Buom Jock, also is in the transfer portal after he led the Rams with 100 tackles.
“They lost a couple receivers in the portal, just like us, so they’ve adjusted, just like most teams in the bowl season have adjusted to the team that they have available,” Colorado State coach Jay Norvell said.
Redshirt sophomore Armani Winfield, who had 37 catches for 338 yards and two touchdowns, is the top available receiver for the Rams.
Miami’s leading receiver entering the game is fifth-year senior Cade McDonald (49 catches for 606 yards and three touchdowns).
Miami won seven straight games before losing to Ohio in the MAC championship game behind sixth-year quarterback Brett Gabbert, who has completed 57.6 percent of his passes (204 of 354) for 2,737 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Gabbert has been prone to throw interceptions, with 11, including one against Ohio in the conference title game. He did not throw an interception in a 30-20 victory over Ohio earlier this season.
Keyon Mozee is Miami’s featured running back with 1,073 yards on 170 carries with four touchdowns.
Matt Salopek, a sixth-year linebacker, leads Miami with 113 tackles. He is the first player in program history with four 100-tackle seasons.
Colorado State won six of its last seven games — committing only seven turnovers in that span.
Senior running back Avery Morrow has 956 yards on 166 attempts with nine touchdowns. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, a redshirt sophomore, has thrown for 2,475 yards while completing 207 of 335 attempts (61.8 percent) with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Chase Wilson, a fifth-year senior linebacker, has 91 tackles this season, three for loss.
