[joepa66]

3) MIAMI, OH - Redhawks must start quickly to gain back some respectability in the MAC , and gain some confidence before an opening stretch that includes trips to Minnesota and Colorado along with homers versus Syracuse and Cincinnati before continuing their MAC season with a trip to Kent State. Last year MUO finished 2-10 with their lone wins coming against lowly Buffalo 38-31 and 9-7 over an equally poor BGSU squad.
So what's to look forward to? Hmmmm, let's see, the Redhawks lost 6 MAC games by a total of 32 points and took Purdue to the wire on the road before losing in OT 38-31. Fifteen starters return and 41 letter winners, the entire offensive line is back, as is a healthy RB Brandon Murphy and QB Mike Kokal who threw for 2419 yards, 14 TDs and and efficiency rating of 124.34. Defensively the 'Hawks lost DB Joey Card the team's 3rd leading tackler and LB Dontae Wright the 4th leading tackler along with two linemen, but they return All-MAC LB Joey Hudson who had 5 INTs and a team high 97 tackles (9.1 per game) with 10 tackles for losses, along with LB Clayton Mullins who had 91 tackles with 4 for losses, and SS Robbie Wilson who had 59 tackles. The defense however, was 9th in the league versus the run (174.4ypg), 8th in scoring (23.4ppg) but 2nd against the pass (171ypg).
If the O-line comes together their running game could be a factor this year and take some pressure off of Kokal who was sacked 49 times last year. An injury plagued Murphy only got 81 chances to run the ball last season and managed 313 yards, while Andre Bratton gained 305 yards in 63 attempts. Kokal actually had the most rushing yard gained with 526 but was low net at 277 due to being sacked so often.
Big play receiver Ryne Robinson (1178yds, 12.9ypc, 8TDs) is gone, but back are WRs Dustin Woods (506yds), Sean McVay (198), TE Tom Crabtree (124). Expect a solid line to keep the rush off Kokal who still managed to average 231.6ypg, to open up the running game that averaged just 2.7ypc for 86.7ypg last season just slightly higher than Akron and Buffalo!