College Football Preview: Cincinnati Bearcats at Miami RedHawks

Who: Cincinnati (1-1) at Miami (1-1)

When: Saturday, 8 p.m.

Where: Yager Stadium (24,286), Oxford.

Series notes: Miami leads 59-55-7, but Cincinnati has won the last 11 games.

Coaches: Cincinnati, Luke Fickell, second season, 7-8, 1-1 in first season at Cincinnati; Miami, Chuck Martin, nine seasons, 86-34, 11-27 in three seasons at Miami

Stat pack: Cincinnati – QB Hayden Moore 32-68-283, 4 TDs, 2 int; RB Mike Boone, 144 rushing yards, 4.6 avg., 2 TDs; WR Kahlil Lewis, 8 catches, 70 yards, 2 TDs; S Malik Clements, 22 tackles, 6 solo; Miami – QB Gus Ragland 34-67, 443 yards, 5 TDs, 1 int; RB Alonzo Smith 144 rushing yards, 4.1 avg., 0 TD; WR James Gardner 13 catches, 228 yards, 2 TDs; LB Brad Koenig 19 tackles, 10 solo.

Local flavor: Sr. K Andrew Gantz (Centerville), Jr. DE Landon Brazile (Thurgood Marshall), Fr. RB Michael Kopaygorodsky (Mason), Fr. OL Cody Lamb (Miamisburg), So. WR Braxton Neal (Lakota West), RS Fr. Ty Sponseller (Mason),

The facts: Miami and Cincinnati played to a scoreless tie on Dec. 8, 1888, Ohio's first college football game … The rivalry is Football Bowl Subdivision's fifth most-played rivalry and the oldest non-conference rivalry, even though Cincinnati competed in the Mid-American Conference from 1947 through1952, the first six seasons of the MAC's existence … The series took a World War II hiatus in 1943-1944 … Fifty-three of the series' 121 games have been decided by seven or fewer points, including seven ties.

Quote: Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, during his weekly media session Tuesday, on the Bearcats' 11-game winning streak in the series: "People want to talk about, 'You guys have won the last 11,' but I'm not sure we outplayed them the last three games, and that's reality. I've talked to our guys about that. The thing about rivalries is that what happened last year was last year. That doesn't matter. You can't think like that. This is an entirely different way of approaching things."

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