At noon on Saturday at Doyt Perry Stadium, Bowling Green hosts a dangerous Miami football team picked to win the Mid-American Conference East Division.

The RedHawks, 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the MAC, have wins over Robert Morris (31-14), Northwestern (17-14) and Kent State (27-24), but lost to Buffalo, 24-20.

The RedHawks have had leads in all six games, including during losses to Cincinnati (38-17) and Kentucky (37-13).

With just over 60 seconds to play in the win over Kent State, Miami quarterback Aveon Smith found Jack Coldiron for a 16-yard completion, converting a fourth-and-six from the Kent State 28-yard line, to propel Miami to its three-point win.

The RedHawks’ defense was outstanding on Saturday, holding the Golden Flashes (2-4, 1-1 MAC) to just 109 rushing yards (on 35 carries), 110 yards below their season average.

Offensively, the RedHawks rushed for 236 yards of their own and Smith finished the contest connecting on 9-of-14 passes for 179 yards and added 71 yards rushing

Even in the four-point loss to Buffalo, the RedHawks did a lot better than the Falcons (2-4, 1-1) had done in last week’s 38-7 loss to the Bulls.

The Falcons (2-4, 1-1) know something has to change if they want to have a chance to win.

BGSU coach Scot Loeffler said Miami is not going just let that happen. He says the RedHawks have great defense, are extremely disciplined and know how to win.

Loeffler is hoping the Falcons can turn things around the way Miami has under coach Chuck Martin, now in his ninth year.

Miami was 4-18 in Martin’s first 22 MAC games. The RedHawks are 31-13 in the last 44 games versus schools from the MAC, the best record in the conference during that span.

The RedHawks clinched the MAC East Division championship with a 6-2 record in 2019, went 2-1 in 2020 and 5-3 in 2021. Miami has now had a winning conference record in five of the past six years

“When I entered the MAC, (what Martin) went through, and he said it to me 100 times, he’s won through the same things that we’re going through right now,” Loeffler said.

“How to win, how to do this, how to do that. I think they know how to win. Plain and simple. They’re extremely disciplined in all three phases. They play really sound, tough defense. I mean, really sound, tough defense and they just don’t make mistakes.”

Loeffler said that when his team makes mistakes, they must learn to bounce back and keep their energy levels up.

“What we’re going to have to do is we’re going to have to go back and do the things that we’ve been doing that gives ourselves a chance to win. We need to be emotionally invested in the game from play one,” Loeffler said.

“Regardless of what happens, bad, good, or indifferent, hang in there, go play our style of football. To win this game, you’re going to have to go out and earn it. They’re not going to give you one thing.

“This isn’t going to be a deal where they’re going to bust a coverage. They’re not. They’re extremely disciplined and we have to go out and take it and we have to earn it. We have to play sound football.”

‘Smack them in the mouth’

BGSU 6-3, 305 junior offensive guard Bronson Warner said Saturday’s game will be football as usual — but this time the Falcons are going to have to get physical.

“I think they are very similar to all the defenses we’ve already played,” Warner said. “I know they are all hard workers, they are going to do their assignment, so we have to knock them off their assignment, smack them in the mouth, and then they will fold.”

For motivation, “smack them in the mouth” is a term Warner uses over and over.

“I don’t think the energy was ever there (against Buffalo). This week to beat Miami we need the energy, and we need to get things going. Like I said, just smack them in the mouth right away to get things pushing.

“The biggest lesson is you need the energy, and you need to come off and smack them in the mouth right away to get things going. You can’t hold back,” Warner continued.

BGSU 6-foot-1, 235-pound junior linebacker Brock Horne remembers the kind of energy the upperclassmen brought to the team when he first became a Falcon. Horne said it is his role now to get the energy started.

“It definitely hurts,” Horne said of the Buffalo loss. “I go back three or four years ago, when we beat Toledo. At that time, I wasn’t playing, but the energy on that sideline was crazy.

“Last year, being at Minnesota (14-10 BGSU win), it was contagious. We just have to come out with that every single week. Like I said, we’ll make more of a focus this week to put more energy in practice.

“It just has to start with us. We have to do a better job of being more emotional ourselves and celebrating when the offense makes a good play, or if we get a turnover getting that real hype and getting the offense out there, getting them hyped as they run onto the field.”