There was a lot to break down after Miami University’s football season opener at Ohio State. Everything but the bottom line.

“OSU is clearly a top 10-type program,” RedHawks coach Don Treadwell said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “They were obviously the better team.”

The Buckeyes staggered through the first quarter and gradually gained steam in a 56-10 rout that included 56 points and 490 yards in the last three periods for the hosts.

MU had some early red-zone failures that were costly. There were way too many dropped passes in the first half, but the receivers won’t be talking about that at practice this week (Treadwell said they’re off limits to the media).

“If you want to be the best, you’ve got to play the best,” Treadwell said. “We certainly played one of the best by far, and we know a little bit about where we’re at. That’s why we keep recruiting, and that’s why we keep building the program.”

The RedHawks will take a step down for their home opener Saturday, facing Southern Illinois from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA). The Salukis are 0-1, having lost 49-28 at Eastern Illinois last Thursday.

This is a one-year deal with Southern Illinois. Missouri was on the original schedule, but that changed when the Tigers moved from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference.

“They’ve got a national championship (in 1983) under their belt,” Treadwell said of the Salukis. “There’s a lot of established history in that program.”

The Miami coach said his players can’t afford to look past SIU and start thinking about next week’s trip to Boise State.

“After you come off a loss, no matter who it is, it’s pretty damn simple,” Treadwell said. “Get yourself refocused on one game at a time.”

Treadwell touched on numerous subjects Tuesday. Among them were:

• Playing nearly a dozen true freshmen against OSU: “We are creating some depth. To have guys up and ready to run in your two-deep as freshmen is a huge advantage as you try to build a program really from the ground up as we’re doing here.”

• Quarterback Zac Dysert: “His focus was tremendous. I can tell you he made a number of checks to put us in a better play than what was called.”

• Miami’s pass protection: “We did a good job of protecting Zac. You saw we were getting the ball off quickly, moving the pocket and really doing just a much better job than we had done a year ago. It’s like night and day.”

• Freshman Kaleb Patterson’s status as starting place-kicker: “Nothing’s changed there. I think he’s only going to get better and better. He’s got some pretty good fundamentals to start with as a kicker, and one of those is being able to get the ball up.”

• The conditions in Columbus: “It was pretty darn humid down there. I don’t know how hot it was, but the humidity really zapped a number of our guys.”

• Freshman running back Jamire Westbrook: “His reps will continue to improve after his performance in this game.”

• Status of injured center JoJo Williams for SIU: “I won’t say doubtful. I think it’s more questionable. I think there’s more of a chance of him at least being ready.”

• Ohio coach Frank Solich and the Bobcats’ win over Penn State: “To see them perform well was not a surprise because they are a very well-focused, organized team. It excites me watching that because that’s what I envision for this program. When you give a head coach six to eight years to really build something special, then it should be special. They’ve got an excellent head coach, they’ve given him time to build his program, and he’s doing the job.”