In Don Treadwell’s view, the list of options wasn’t very inviting.

Miami University’s football team suffered a crushing 27-24 loss at Buffalo last Saturday when a long kickoff return set up a last-second 47-yard field goal by the Bulls, who hadn’t won a Mid-American Conference game all season.

The RedHawks tied the contest at 24-24 on a Nick Harwell touchdown pass from Zac Dysert and Kaleb Patterson’s extra point with 0:23 on the clock. How should they handle the ensuing kickoff?

They were kicking into a stiff wind, so Treadwell didn’t think Mason Krysinski could reach the end zone or deliver a deep boot with a regular kickoff. They could’ve kicked the ball out of bounds, with Buffalo then choosing to take the ball at its own 35 (or wherever it went out of bounds) or forcing Miami to kick it again with a 5-yard penalty.

Of they could squib it, which is what MU chose to do. The Bulls’ Devin Campbell took the ball at the 18 and returned it 47 yards to the Miami 35. Buffalo gained 5 yards on a run and called a timeout with 0:02 left, and Patrick Clarke’s field goal was true.

“You’ve got to play those odds,” Treadwell admitted Tuesday during his weekly press conference. His team fell to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the MAC East Division.

So what happened on that return from the RedHawks’ perspective?

“A couple guys got hung up in there, and you could say they were held, but it doesn’t matter,” Treadwell said. “They’re not going to usually call that. It’s a moot point at this point, but that’s part of the game.

“I’d say one thing: The returner for them did not follow suit to where his blocking was. It was just a play he created. You can see as he was fumbling around with the ball, we were coming down in the lane and then he just decided, ‘I’m going to take a chance.’ He went out there all by himself, and it worked.”

Treadwell said there were plenty of key moments in the game for Miami, including several dropped passes and the fact that its running backs combined for just 20 yards.

“It’s always important, at least from my old-school philosophy … you give credit to the opponent,” Treadwell said. “Buffalo won. They played better that day. It’s a performance-based game, and they made some plays.”

The RedHawks lost the yardage battle 352-340, yet held UB without a touchdown in the first half. It was 3-3 at the break.

“Early in the game, both defenses made a pretty strong stand,” Treadwell said. “There’s been very few times we’ve been held to three points in a half and very few times we’ve held another team to three points in the first half.”

Next for MU is a home game against Kent State (8-1, 5-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Flashes are on a seven-game winning streak, but dropped a 9-3 decision to Miami last season.

“We have played well at home, so we anticipate continuing to do that,” Treadwell said. “We’ve put the last game behind us. We’ve got a great group of resilient young men. We don’t walk around and mope as coaches and players. We get ready for the next game. That’s what you do in the game of life, and that’s what you do in football.”

On the injury front, Treadwell said defensive tackles Austin Brown and Mike Johns are expected to be sidelined again this weekend. Running back Jamire Westbrook took a hard hit at the end of the first half against Buffalo and didn’t return, but he should be good to go against KSU.

Three games remain on the RedHawks’ schedule. They will travel to Central Michigan at 1 p.m. on Nov. 17 and host Ball State on Nov. 23. The start time for the finale is TBA, though Miami officials confirmed that it will either be 11 a.m. or 1 p.m.