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OXFORD — Shane Montgomery is planning to point his Miami RedHawks at the Michigan Wolverines today, Sept. 6, and have them play football the old-fashioned way.

The simple, no-nonsense way.

The Woody Hayes way.

You run the football first. If that doesn't work you do it again. And again.

When it's all over, the RedHawks hope to come away from Michigan Stadium with something more than the $475,000 they will earn for agreeing to play one game on the Wolverines' home turf.

Miami will pit its running backs and massive offensive line, which averages 309.2 pounds per man, against a talented Michigan defense with seven returning starters from 2007, but a defense which was roughed up in the Wolverines' 25-23 loss to Utah last week.

"That will be an interesting match-up," Montgomery said. "We've got to come out and establish the run and take some pressure off our passing game, and that's no matter who we play."

Thomas Merriweather averaged 5.9 yards on his 10 carries against Vanderbilt last week, including a 20-yard burst. But Miami ran the ball only 25 times and passed it 41.

"We ran the ball well at times, but to be honest we probably should've run the ball more," Montgomery said. "We tended to throw the ball more in the second quarter when we got down 17-3 and 24-10.

"We've got to keep running the football," he emphasized. "I thought Thomas ran the ball really well. We probably would've run Thomas more in the third period if he hadn't gone down with cramps."

No. 2 in the tailback rotation was Andre Bratton, who is coming off a knee injury last season. He ran seven times for only 13 yards.

"Andre looked a little rusty and a little hesitant," Montgomery said, noting that Bratton was not hitting the holes well."

But Montgomery sounded encouraged by what he saw from an offensive line which features center Josh Satterthwait (315 pounds), guards Dave DiFranco (310) and Brandon Brooks (323), and tackles Steve Sutter (297) and Bob Gulley (301).

"We didn't get physically whipped up front. I thought Brandon Brooks and Bob Gulley played pretty well, and these guys will continue to improve," Montgomery said, referring to his two least experienced starting linemen.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.