Sports

DEKALB, Ill. — The main difference about the latest loss for the Miami University football team was how, this time, the RedHawks were close. Agonizingly close. So close they could taste it.

Miami quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh took two shots at the end zone for a game-winning touchdown pass from the Northern Illinois 15-yard line in the closing minutes.

But as Miami coach Shane Montgomery said, "When (your defense) is dropping eight (defenders back), there aren't a lot of holes back there."

Both passes were tipped away, and NIU held on for a 17-13 victory at Huskie Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 11, sending Miami to its third straight loss. The RedHawks are 1-5 overall, 0-2 in the Mid-American Conference and 0-5 against Division I-A opponents.

Miami rallied from a 10-point deficit to take a 13-10 lead late in the third quarter, but the Huskies answered immediately with a 63-yard touchdown drive capped by Chad Spann's 2-yard run.

"I was really proud of the way our guys played throughout after falling behind 10-0," Montgomery said.

"I felt like everybody on defense played as hard as we've played all year," Miami senior linebacker Clayton Mullins said. "Today, they made the plays, and we didn't. We didn't do what we had to do. We gave up the big plays, which killed us."

NIU's offense had five plays of more than 20 yards. Miami's offense had none, though the RedHawks did notch the most spectacular big play of the day when sophomore Eugene Harris returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, his second return for a TD this season.

NIU took a 10-0 lead when redshirt freshman quarterback DeMarcus Grady threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Landon Cox with 10:11 left in the second quarter.

Harris' punt return kept the RedHawks close, but their offense did not puncture the NIU end zone or even score a point until the final play of the half when senior Nathan Parseghian kicked a career-long 44-yard field goal as time expired to tie the game at 10.

Raudabaugh, who started Saturday and played the entire game after being benched in the second half of last week's contest against Temple in favor of redshirt freshman Clay Belton, directed Miami's final possession and completed a 6-yard pass to Dustin Woods to the NIU 38 on fourth-and-3.

Then Raudabaugh's 17-yard completion to Harris took the ball to the Huskies' 12.

Following an incompletion on first down, a screen pass to Andre Bratton resulted in a 3-yard loss. Raudabaugh and the RedHawks had two more chances.

The first was a pass into the end zone for wideout Chris Givens, who was surrounded by three defenders. Nobody came up with the ball.

On fourth down, Raudabaugh fired a pass straight toward tight end Jake O'Connell. At the last second, NIU senior linebacker Josh Allen knocked it away, and the Huskies were home free.