DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — The Miami University football team came into Wednesday's game ranked first in the Mid-American Conference with 25 sacks, but they didn't get their first one against Akron until five minutes into the fourth quarter.

But what a big one it was, with Clayton Mullins dislodging the ball from Akron quarterback Carlton Jackson, and Craig Mester scooping up the fumble and returning it 7 yards for the only score of the game.

"We hadn't got a whole lot of pressure on them until then," Mester said. "It was a fire zone, so I was up trying to keep contain. I just got off the ball fast and tried to push the tackle back."

Joey Hudson added the RedHawks' second sack of the game — and 27th of the season — on Akron's next possession.

Touchdown graveyard

There were five interceptions thrown Wednesday night, and all five came in the north end zone.

Miami's Daniel Raudabaugh threw three of them on back-to-back-to-back possessions spanning the second and third quarters. His picks came on plays from the Akron 5, 15 and 32-yard lines.

Akron's Chris Jacquemain threw both of his in the fourth quarter.

The first came from the 25-yard line just four plays after the Zips recovered a fumble at the Miami 38.

The last one came on a Hail Mary attempt of the final play of the game.

Sykes re-injures ankle

Miami running back Austin Sykes injured his ankle on a 13-yard reception in the second quarter. Akron linebacker Kevin Grant slid down Sykes' left side while forcing him out of bounds. Sykes did not return.

"I think he re-injured his ankle," MU coach Shane Montgomery said. "It's good that we have 10 days (before the next game Nov. 24 at Ohio) to hopefully get him back."

Beating Akron

Wednesday's win raised Miami's all-time record against Akron to 13-5-1, which is good for a .722 winning percentage. Among Division I opponents the RedHawks have faced at least 10 times, that ranks fifth behind Buffalo (10-0, 1.000), Kent State (44-11, .800), Eastern Michigan (16-4, .800) and Marshall (30-10-1, .744).

Preventing points

Miami came into the game leading the conference in scoring defense in all games and in conference games. With Wednesday's shutout, the RedHawks are allowing just 23.6 points per game. In MAC contests, they are surrendering just 15.3 per game.

One and done

The last time Miami played a game where the only score was a touchdown was Nov. 17, 1973, in a 6-0 win against Cincinnati. MU scored on Larry Harper's 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Shutout stat

The last time Miami won by shutout was a 49-0 victory against Indiana State on Aug. 28, 2004. The last time the RedHawks shut out a MAC team was Oct. 19, 2002, a 49-0 win against Buffalo.