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Sports TwitterMiami football picked 4th, but still confident
The RedHawks are coming off a 2-10 season, but coach Shane Montgomery says he expects to get back to the top.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
DETROIT — The Miami RedHawks consider themselves contenders for the 2007 football season even if the rest of the Mid-American Conference does not.
"We all feel confident," said Miami senior running back Brandon Murphy. "Everybody's a year older, a year faster, a year stronger, a year smarter."
Extras
The RedHawks, coming off a 2-10 season in which they finished fifth in the East Division with a 2-6 record, were picked fourth in the East this year in the MAC News Media Association Preseason Football Poll.
The results were announced Wednesday during the annual MAC Football Preview at Ford Field.
"Considering where we finished last year, I didn't have a lot of expectations about where the media was going to pick us," Miami coach Shane Montgomery said.
"You want to be a program like we have been in the past where people feel like you're a legitimate threat to win the championship every year," he added. "Some people say, 'Oh, we'd rather not be picked first; we want to sneak up on people.' That hasn't been the nature of Miami football. We've been near the top, and our expectations are to get back there this year."
Miami, which saw its string of three straight East Division titles snapped last fall, garnered 163 total points (sixth among the 13 conference teams) but just one first-place vote and no votes (out of 36) to win the MAC Championship Game.
The Ohio Bobcats were picked to repeat as East Division champs, followed by Kent State, Akron and Miami.
"It feels good that people give us respect, but we have to go out on the field and perform to the level of their expectations," said Ohio senior tailback Kalvin McRae, whose team was 9-5 overall and 7-1 in the MAC in 2006 after five straight losing seasons.
The West Division voting also was tight, with Western Michigan edging defending champ Central Michigan.
Western Michigan center Robbie Krutilla wasn't particularly impressed .
"It's a great feeling," the 6-foot-3, 314-point senior said, "but it's just something written on pages. It'll be over by tomorrow."
The Broncos were the overall favorite, getting 11 Championship Game votes to Central Michigan's 10, Ohio's six and Toledo's five. One interesting vote went to Temple, which joins the MAC this year after going 1-11.
Central Michigan has been picked to win the West Division in six national publications. That pleased Chippewas head coach Butch Jones, who replaces Brian Kelly, now the head coach at Cincinnati.
"Everybody asks me, 'How do you handle the great expectations of your football team?' " Jones said. "That's what we want. Great expectations."
MAC preseason poll
How Mid-American Conference football teams are expected to finish, according to the MAC News Media Association preseason poll:
| EAST DIVISION | ||
| School | Points | 1st-place votes |
| 1. Ohio | 216 | 15 |
| 2. Kent State | 203 | 13 |
| 3. Akron | 171 | 6 |
| 4. Miami | 163 | 1 |
| 5. Bowling Green | 130 | — |
| 6. Temple | 64 | 1 |
| 7. Buffalo | 61 | — |
| WEST DIVISION | ||
| School | Points | 1st-place votes |
| 1. Western Michigan | 175 | 15 |
| 2. Central Michigan | 173 | 10 |
| 3. Toledo | 138 | 6 |
| 4. Ball State | 134 | 4 |
| 5. Northern Illinois | 90 | 1 |
| 6. Eastern Michigan | 46 | — |
