DaytonDailyNews.com

Four seasons ago, the Miami University football team traveled to Michigan Stadium with optimism following a 13-1 season. The RedHawks tumbled, losing 43-10 in Chad Henne's debut as the Wolverines' freshman starting quarterback.

The next year, the

RedHawks opened at Ohio State and left Columbus with a 20-point loss.

"Not knocking them," said Justin Mercier, a junior forward on the Miami hockey team, "but no matter how hard they play, they don't have as much of a chance."

In some ways, it's up to the hockey team to even the score. The RedHawks will welcome Michigan to their Goggin Ice Arena this weekend in a highly anticipated No. 1-vs.-No. 2 series as another in a line of Bowl Championship Series conference schools that top-rated Miami hosts each season.

That creates a buzz on campus not seen with other sports. While not expressing great interest in football or basketball, students pack Miami hockey games, in part because the RedHawks regularly compete with and defeat programs that dominate other major sports.

This season, while rising to the nation's top ranking with one of the best seasons in school history, Miami is 6-1 against BCS conference teams and Notre Dame. That number includes a 3-0 mark against Ohio State, which has an athletic budget roughly five times that of Miami.

From 2004-07, the

RedHawks went 13-16-6 against Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame, schools well known to regional football fans that the RedHawks annually face as CCHA members. Students can expect to see more victories against major schools in hockey than in basketball and football.

"We're in Big Ten country, even though we're not in the Big Ten," said Nathan Davis, a Miami senior forward. "The students here know those schools, and they love it when we beat them."

Small schools can rule

There are 59 schools that sponsor NCAA Division I hockey, from mighty programs like Minnesota and Michigan to relative unknowns Bemidji State and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The low number and wide range skews the college powers.

"In hockey terms, North Dakota is a BCS school," said George Gwozdecky, the former Miami coach who has won two national championships at the University of Denver.

That makes hockey a sport ripe to even the gorge between larger and smaller programs.

Michigan Tech, which spends $5.5 million on athletics each year, can beat Wisconsin with six times the students and 15 times the budget (which it did earlier this season).

Nebraska-Omaha, with its $8.2 million athletic budget, can sweep Ohio State, the nation's mightiest athletic revenue machine.

"Lake Superior was our big rival for a few years, a tiny school in Michigan," said Red Berenson, the 24th-year Michigan coach. "Our fans recognized that, not because of the name of the school, but because the team was very good."

It is in this climate that Miami has thrived.

Recruiting more players from Ohio and its bordering states, coach Enrico Blasi,

who played for the school when it won its first-ever league championship, led the RedHawks to its first No. 1 national ranking in any team sport two seasons ago.

In the past three seasons, including this year's 25-3-0 mark, Miami is 75-26-8 and has elbowed for its place in the college hockey consciousness.

"If I was a student there, I would have to consider it the best Division I program at the school, in terms of playing for a national title," said Adam Wodon, managing editor of College Hockey News. "That makes it much easier to root for."

Great atmosphere

Perhaps that's why students camp out for hockey tickets while there are hundreds of empty student seats at football and basketball games.

On eBay, tickets for this weekend's series with Michigan range from $91-$400 in a school year that saw the football team draw 16,186 spectators per game in a 25,000-seats stadium.

The basketball team, meanwhile, plays in front of an average crowd of 2,790 (with a building capacity of 9,200).

The two-year-old Goggin Ice Center also is a factor, as Miami invested $36 million into the 4,000-seat arena based on the team's success and student interest.

It is as much a part of the student culture as any aspect of the Miami athletic department, largely because of who the team plays and who it can beat, as well as the atmosphere during the games.

"If you watch it on TV, that's one thing." said Enrico Blasi, the Miami coach. "If you come to a game, you're hooked."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.