I Disapprove of Miami University's Very Existence

So exactly who are these Ohioan Miamians? (That can't be right) Let's get to know our enemy.

Don't You Dare Call Them Miami Of Ohio

Miami University was founded in the year 1809 and was the seventh public college founded in the United States. The university's first president envisioned Miami as the "Yale of the West." (That statement turns out to be untrue for more than one reason.)

So If The Miami Tribe Was In Ohio, Who The Hell Was In Florida?

Miami is located in southwestern Ohio approximately thirty miles northwest of Cincinnati. The Miami in this school's name refers to the Miami River valley, cut by two medium-sized rivers, the Little Miami River and the Great Miami River. The rivers were in turn named after the Miami Indians who lived in the area. So there.

Miami Loves The Ladies

Miami has absorbed two women's colleges located in Oxford: Oxford College (1854–1929) and Western College for Women (1853–1974). Oxford was also home to Oxford Theological Seminary (1838–1858) and the Oxford Female Institute (1849–1867).

Jodie Foster Hearts Miami U

The 1991 film Little Man Tate with Jodie Foster was largely filmed on campus.

98 Degrees of Alumni

Notable alumni include President Benjamin Harrison, NBA player Ron Harper, Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger, NBA player Wally Szczerbiak, former Syracuse student and current Miami (FL) President Donna Shalala, suicidal Family Feud host Ray Combs, pro wrestler Brian Pillman and singer Nick Lachey

The Coach's In The Cradle And The Silver Spoon...

The Cradle of Coaches is a nickname given to Miami University for producing a long line of football coaches including Earl Blaik, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Bill Arnsparger, George Little, Weeb Ewbank, Sid Gillman, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, John Pont, Carmen Cozza, Bill Mallory, Jim Tressel, Joe Novak, Ron Zook, Dick Crum, Paul Dietzel, William Narduzzi, Randy Walker, Terry Hoeppner, and Sean Payton.

Cincy Gets First Dibs

Miami U vs. Cincinnati is the longest continuous college football rivalry West of the Allegheny Mountains, which is kinda like when the #4 movie at the box office calls themselves "The #1 Action-Thriller in America!" cause the top three films are comedies and horrors.

Wait, Didn't They Used To Be Much More Offensive?

Before the early 30's, Miami University had a few different nicknames, including the Miami Boys, the Big Reds, and the Reds and Whites. In 1928, a Miami student referred to the team as the Big Red-Skinned Warriors (yikes!) By 1931, the Redskins had stuck as the Miami University nickname and became the official nickname of the Miami University athletics program for nearly seventy years. In 1997, at the urging from the Oklahoma-based Miami Tribe, the Miami University Redskins officially changed their names to the RedHawks.

Recent History

The RedHawks are 639-352-44 all-time but their most recent seasons have seen a decline since the 2003 13-1 MAC championship team that won the GMAC Bowl. Since then, the team went 8-5 (2004), 7-4 (2005) and 2-10 (2006). It was their first losing season since 1993. We have more in common than I thought.

Head-To-Head

Syracuse has a 3-0 advantage all-time against Miami U. Syracuse opened the Carrier Dome era with a 36-24 win in 1980, then won 24-10 in 1987 and most recently won 34-14 last year. This is the first meeting of the two schools in Ohio.

Season So Far

The RedHawks opened the season with a 14-13 win over Ball State on the road. They then went to Minnesota and took the Gophers to double overtime before eventually falling 35-41. The following week Cincinnati took them out behind the woodshed and beat them silly 10-47. And last week they visited Colorado and all they got for it was a 0-42 drubbing. In other words, they've been tenderized.

Quarterback

Word on the street (and by street I mean Dave Rahme's blog) is that the starting QB position is up in the air. Senior starting QB Mike Kokal may find himself on the bench again and sophomore Daniel Raudabaugh might get his second start. Raudabaugh started against Colorado but had a "Nunesian" day, completing 11 of 32 passes for 95 yards.

When asked Monday which QB would start against the Orange, Miami coach Shane Montgomery said: "I'm really unsure right now. Daniel Raudabaugh played Saturday and, coming off two great performances, really struggled. He didn't play very well, and we didn't play very well around him. I don't know what we're going to do right now. We'll see how practice goes. There's a good chance we could play both of them."

I'm rooting for Raudabaugh if for no other reason than his name reminds me of one a great lines (that is, of course, not online) from Wyatt Earp. (Ed. Note - Quaid does a pretty good job as Doc Holliday but he doesn't come close to matching Val Kilmer who, in Tombstone, turns in one of the top ten greatest performances ever and that cannot be debated)

Doc Holliday: Dave Rudabaugh is an ignorant scoundrel. I disapprove of his very existence.

I expect to see a sign at the game saying the same of young Daniel.

Running Backs

And you thought Syracuse's running game was in trouble? Miami enters the game this weekend without Brandon Murphy and Andre Bratton, the team's two top halfbacks. Both have suffered season-ending injuries. Senior Austin Sykes and Raudabaugh (that's scoundrel!) are the team's leading active rushers.

Wide Receivers

They've got some decent hands but if these guys continue to see the ball so few times (11 completions last week), what's the difference? If Miami can establish any passing game, keep an eye on Dustin Woods, Chris Givens, Armand Robinson and Eugene Harris.

Overall
After going through all this I'm feeling much better about things. The RedHawks have problems that make our situation look stable. It all depends on which Cuse teams shows up but all the pieces are there for a Syracuse win. Do we as fans dare to let ourselves dream of win #2 so soon after #1?

Thanks Wikipedia, College Football Data Warehouse and Yahoo! Sports.