Miami notes: Punter has key play in 9-3 win

Murphy’s 48-yard boot to the 1 enabled MU to get great field position.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer 2:10 AM Sunday, October 16, 2011

KENT — As the third quarter began to wind down with Miami University trailing Kent State  3-0, it became obvious that someone was going to have to come up with a big play.

That someone was sophomore punter Zac Murphy, who played as a big a role as anyone in the RedHawks’ 9-3 victory Saturday.

He launched a 48-yard punt which was downed at the Kent State 1-yard line.

The Golden Flashes were unable to dig themselves out of the hole, the RedHawks got the ball in great field position for the first time all day, and five plays later Zac Dysert threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris Givens.

A strong wind gusting to  40 mph made field position even more critical than usual, and Murphy came through with some clutch punts, including a 55-yard punt late in the first quarter, a 46-yard kick early in the fourth period and a total of three punts inside the KSU 20.

“All I was really thinking about was making solid contact,” Murphy said. “(The wind) was a little tricky because the flags looked like they were going one way and the wind was going a different way.”

A rare safety: The safety scored by the RedHawks early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Spencer Keith was sacked in the end zone by C.J. Marck was their first since Oct. 13, 2007, when they blocked a Bowling Green punt out of the end zone.

The end of a streak: Nick Harwell’s streak of four straight games of at least 100 receiving yards came to a shuddering stop when the Miami sophomore wide receiver finished the day with three catches for exactly 1 yard.

Defensive line woes: Senior defensive end Will Diaz, who has been one of Miami’s top players this season, missed Saturday’s game with the knee injury he suffered a week earlier and his season could be in jeopardy.

Prior to the start of the KSU game Diaz led the RedHawks with 5.5 tackles for loss.

Junior Wes Williams, Miami’s other starting defensive end when the season began, missed his third straight game with a leg injury.

Falling behind: Miami has trailed at halftime in all six of its games and has been held scoreless in three of them.

The RedHawks trailed Missouri, Minnesota, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Army and Kent State.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pete.conrad@coxinc.com.

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