Next game
Who: Miami RedHawks (6-4, 5-1 Mid-American Conference) at Akron Zips (0-10, 0-6 MAC)
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field (27,000), Akron
TV: ESPNU
Radio: WMOH-AM (1450), WPFB-FM (105.9)
OXFORD — The hit that Miami University quarterback Zac Dysert took to his chest while scoring a touchdown at Bowling Green State University on Wednesday has coach Michael Haywood a little concerned.
“We don’t know what’s going on yet. We won’t know whether he’ll be able to go or not,” Haywood said Friday at his weekly press conference.
“He got hit in the ribs,” Haywood said. “Instead of going down low to the knee he tried to jump over the guy. It’s a day-by-day deal.”
The Miami coach said he should know more soon, but right now the 17th-most prolific passer in the nation is questionable for the RedHawks’ game on Wednesday at Akron.
Dysert, who has thrown for 2,406 yards and is tied for 10th in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 222 completions, was drilled as he lunged toward the end zone and stretched the ball to the goal line with 1:47 left in the second quarter of Miami’s 24-21 victory at Bowling Green.
If Dysert is unable to play, redshirt freshman Austin Boucher would start, and senior Mike Scherpenberg would be the No. 2 quarterback.
Boucher replaced Dysert for four plays at the end of the third quarter, after Miami had taken a 21-7 lead, allowing Dysert time to make a quick trip to the locker room. Boucher didn’t attempt any passes and ran once for 4 yards.
“He did a nice job,” Haywood said of Boucher. “He did what we asked him to do. We didn’t put a lot of pressure on him.”
Haywood said there would be no need to make any fundamental changes if Boucher does replace Dysert.
“One of the things we do here is that the second-string quarterback gets a third of all the reps at practice,” he said. “We may split time with them anyway to get (Boucher) more reps.”
Dysert returned to play the entire fourth quarter at Bowling Green and completed three straight passes to Nick Harwell on the drive which ended with Trevor Cook kicking a 33-yard field goal to win the game.
Overall, Dysert completed 19-of-25 passes against the Falcons for 221 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He also rushed for 20 yards.
“He really gave a gutty performance, fighting back through the adversity of the injury, really playing hard through a lot of pain,” Haywood said.
About the Author