“Our kids don’t react well to different,” he said last week.
Despite having better numbers than last season, one area Martin was hoping would be better going into Saturday’s 119th “Victory Bell” matchup with arch-rival Cincinnati at Paul Brown Stadium was the passing game. Led by senior quarterback Andrew Hendrix, the RedHawks went into the game ranked 41st nationally and fifth among Mid-American Conference teams in passing, but that almost was in spite of itself, Martin said.
“Our passing game has a ways to go,” he said. “Our receivers are learning that if he doesn’t know where to throw it, it’s hard to complete the ball.”
Martin, who previously was Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator before landing the Miami job last December, and his assistants also have been working to convince the RedHawks they can hold their own against big-name programs such as Michigan, which pulled away in the second half for a 34-10 win over Miami on the Wolverines home field Sept. 13.
“We tried to convince them they could play with those guys,” Martin said. “At halftime, our kids believed. There were some mismatches, but it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be. If they beat us one-on-one, I can live with that, but I can’t live with giving one away.”
That the RedHawks might feel inferior to their opponents makes sense, since they took a 19-game losing streak into their game against the Bearcats. Martin and his staff were working to keep Miami focused on the task at hand — each week’s game — and keep the bigger picture out of their collective head.
“We’re not going to talk about the losing streak,” he said. “Talking about winning is different than preparing for it. Our kids want to win. They’re just not playing smart enough.”
Martin considered the Michigan game a step in the right direction, and he hoped Saturday’s game would be another as the RedHawks finish non-conference play and get ready for their Mid-American Conference schedule. They are scheduled to open Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Buffalo against a Bulls team that was 2-2 after a 36-7 win on Saturday over Norfolk State, a Football Championship Subdivision team.
The RedHawks’ conference home opener is Oct. 4 against Massachusetts with the kickoff time still to be determined. The Minutemen are 0-4 after losing 48-7 at Penn State on Saturday.
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