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Report card: Northern Illinois at Miami
Pass offense
A
A brilliant performance by Zac Dysert, who threw three touchdown passes and had no interceptions. His career-high 348 passing yards are — if you don’t include Ben Roethlisberger’s 10 games of 350 or more yards — the ninth-highest single-game total in Miami history. Armand Robinson also came up big, again, with yet another career-high in yardage (123). Jamal Rogers had a good day with four catches for 42 yards and a touchdown, and Roman Lawson’s six catches for 78 yards is pretty darn good for a true freshman making his first start. Dysert was sacked eight times, but when the running game does nowhere, that will happen.
Run offense
F
Although I consider quarterback sacks as part of the passing game, the negative yardage is officially a running game statistic. That’s why Miami had 27 carries for minus-11 yards. Miami’s running game was bad again on Saturday, but not quite that bad. Lawson had 26 yards on nine carries. Thomas Merriweather continues to struggle, though (three carries, 0 yards).
Pass defense
B
The RedHawks did well against a Northern Illinois team that wasn’t really all that interested in the pass. Freshman Justin Bowers and senior Caleb Bostic each had a sack,
Run defense
C-minus
Chad Spann, the Huskies’ second-string tailback, sure looked like a first-stringer against the RedHawks, finishing with 21 carries for 156 yards and touchdown runs of 40 and 42 yards. Second-string quarterback Grady DeMarcus, pressed into service by the knee injury to Chandler Harnish, also broke a 33-yard run to set up a field goal in the fourth quarter. The 202 total rushing yards by NIU isn’t bad, but the 5.2 yards per carry is.
Special teams
F
Is there any grade lower than F? What about Z-minus? A 44-yard punt return for a touchdown that was set up by a holding penalty by the punting team which negated a 52-yard punt out of bounds. How bad is that. There also was that 42-yard punt return which set up a field goal. That’s 10 points the special teams cost Miami, and we’re still counting. Two missed field goals by Trevor Cook, including one that was blocked, and a blocked extra-point kick. That’s 17 points. Cook did convert a 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, and Chris DiCesare did average 42.6 yards and had a 54-yard punt that was not called back, and Jamal Rogers did have a 30-yard kickoff return and a 12-yard punt return. So maybe we’ll just stay with the F.
Intangibles
A
It was refreshing to see a Miami team that was fired up, a team that was making some hard hits (but still missing a few tackles), a team that doesn’t look like it’s giving up on a winless season. And it wasn’t just the youngsters. The veterans were fired up, too. A good comeback from a disappointing performance against Ohio.
— Pete Conrad
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