DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — Here's a shock for the rest of the Mid-American Conference: The Miami RedHawks are uncertain about which players will carry the ball in Saturday's game at Ohio University.

For about the ninth straight game, the RedHawks have at least one running back listed as questionable.

"Austin Sykes got banged up in the Akron game and he is questionable," Miami head coach Shane Montgomery said. "He's still somewhat tender in his foot."

Sykes continues to aggravate the ankle injury he sufered at Vanderbilt on Oct. 27. That hasn't stopped the senior tailback from starting the last two games, but his action has been limited. He gained 11 yards on three carries against Buffalo and had six carries for 22 yards against Akron.

Fortunately for the RedHawks, it doesn't seem to matter who carries the ball. They've rushed for more than 100 yards in a game seven times this year, and three times have surpassed 200 yards behind six different tailbacks.

A big reason is the much-improved play of an offensive line that was swamped by injuries and inexperience in 2006.

"We've been fortunate that the injuries we've had this year, we've been able to overcome," Montgomery said. "Last year when we had the linemen go down, we were not ready for that. We were forced to use players who were not ready.

"And we've been fortunate that when we lost our top two running backs (Brandon Murphy and Andre Bratton), we had two fifth-year seniors (Sykes and Cory Jones) there."

Defensive dominance

Miami's defense, which recorded the Mid-American Conference's only shutout in 101 games this year by beating Akron 7-0 last Wednesday, leads the MAC in six categories: rushing defense, pass efficiency defense, total defense, scoring defense, opponent first downs and quarterback sacks.

The last time Miami scored a shutout victory was Aug. 28, 2004, with a 49-0 romp over Indiana State. The RedHawks have recorded 10 shutouts over the last 23 seasons.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.