Miami special teams dominate Central Michigan to claim MAC title
DETROIT -- It took all of 15 seconds for the Miami RedHawks to enforce their will on special teams in their 26-21 victory over Central Michigan.
Miami senior Maurice Thomas watched the opening kickoff from Ryan Tice arc high into the air and descend into his arms, trapping it tight against his shoulder pads before darting upfield and looking for blocks.
He juked out one Chippewa flying at him, and then he found the one block to spring him free. Thomas angled to the right sideline and then cut back to the left side of the field, trying to ward off sophomore Norman Anderson, the lone Chippewa standing between him and six points.
Anderson did a nice job of sticking with the play and was able to bring Thomas down, but not until the RedHawks had taken it 98 yards all the way to the CMU 2.
“We always talk about giving Mo a chance,” Miami coach Chuck Martin said. “If we give him a little bit, he's electric.”
Two plays later, Miami punched in a run up the middle to take a 7-0 lead only 61 seconds into the Mid-American Conference championship game.
Thomas’ return on the opening kick was the longest in MAC title game history and led to the score that ended up being the difference being winning and losing the conference title.
“That's the margin of victory, you know, that play,” Martin said. “You forget it was the first play of the game, but obviously we needed every point we got.”
The RedHawks turned the momentum of the game away from CMU again at the 9:30 mark of the second quarter, when Chippewas head coach Jim McElwain opted to fake a punt deep in Miami territory.
“It's one of those things where they were overloading to our wing against our rugby,” McElwain said of his decision to try fooling the Miami punt return team. “We had two punts and had the look that we needed. As I told the team coming into the game, it wasn't like we were going to carry anything and not use it. We were going to empty our bags.”
The numbers were there for CMU, but it didn’t matter. The RedHawks swallowed up junior Oakley Lavallii for no gain on fourth-and-six, and Miami's offense took over at the CMU 19.
The Chippewa defense stood tall and limited Miami to a 41-yard field goal by senior Sam Sloman, but it was was an easy three points and the RedHawks claimed a 10-7 lead thanks to the play of their special teams.
Though CMU scored with 30 seconds left in the half to take a 14-10 lead into the break, it was Sloman who knocked the wind out of the Chippewas in the second half by hitting three high-pressure field goals to go 4-for-4 on the afternoon.
Sloman credited the Redhawks field goal unit as a whole after he was honored as the special teams player of the game.
“I don't think people realize how important a snapper and a holder is or how important the line and the wings are,” Sloman said. “They do their job every time, so they make it really easy for me. I just know when I go out there that I'll have a pretty easy setup, and it's kind of like kicking off the sticks.”
Despite the success of the Miami special teams, the Chippewas trailed 23-21 with 1:24 left to play and had a chance to recover an onside kick.
Senior kicker Kaden Keon executed a beautiful onside kick that sophomore Rolliann Sturkey caught in stride at the CMU 41 and it appeared the Chippewas would trot out the offense for a final quality drive, but the recovery was called back because Sturkey and another Chippewa were offside by at least two yards.
The ball was re-kicked and again Sturkey was flagged for being offsides. This time, however, the penalty was declined because the ball had ricocheted out of bounds anyway.
The mistakes by the kickoff team gave Miami the ball within field goal range again, and Sloman made them pay by converting his 48-yard attempted and stretching the RedHawk lead to 26-21, forcing CMU to play for a touchdown with only 28 seconds left on the clock instead of having the option for a field goal.
“I'm thinking, ‘make the kick, kick out of the end zone,’ Martin said. “Just keep relying on your best players. And obviously our ST guys, our Mo Thomas was huge today. Punting, huge today. Sloman, huge today.”
Sloman, who is also the man for kickoffs, played to Martin’s plans and booted the ensuing kick for a touchback.
The Chippewas moved the ball to the CMU 45 with six seconds to play, but Quinten Dormady’s last-ditch throw fell incomplete as time expired to give Miami the MAC championship.
CMU outgained the RedHawks in both rushing yards and passing yards en route to a 355-272 advantage in total offensive yards, but the Chippewas were thoroughly outplayed in the special teams department from start to finish.
“You need a big kickoff return, you need a big punt fake stop, you need a big field goal; everybody has pitched in all year. We're this much better,” Martin said as he pinched his thumb and index finger together with a half-inch of space between his fingertips, “maybe than probably 10 MAC teams. Maybe we're this much worse, but these kids just find a way to gut out victories.”
