Miami Ohio is the defending MAC football champion and was the preseason favorite to repeat this year, but the RedHawks would face a tough challenge simply getting back to the title game if they are upset at Ball State in a rivalry game MACtion.

The RedHawks, though, are double-digit favorites on the NCAAF odds in Week 11.

Miami Ohio Redhawks -470

Defending MAC champion Miami (4-4, 3-1 MAC) sits in a three-way tie for second this year and would get back to the title game by winning out. The RedHawks won their third straight game on Oct. 26, a 46-7 rout of Central Michigan. That was the 60th win at the school for Coach Chuck Martin, passing Randy Walker’s 59 wins for most in RedHawks history.

Dom Dzioban

Dzioban set a Yager Stadium record with five made field goals for Miami, which scored on 10 of its 11 possessions. It also tied a school record set in 2008. QB Brett Gabbert finished 10-of-12 passing for 165 yards and a score. Following the 75-yard first-quarter touchdown drive by CMU, the Chippewas managed just 93 yards on 38 plays the rest of the contest (2.4 yards per play). Miami’s 39-point margin of victory was its largest ever in the series.

Brett Gabbert

Gabbert, who missed the last six games of the 2023 season with a leg injury, has made 46 starts in his career and ranks third in program history with 9,620 passing yards, sixth in completion percentage (.592) and third in passing touchdowns (72). He is also 26 yards shy of 500 career rushing yards and is responsible for 79 touchdowns (72 passing, 7 rushing) in his career.

Brett Gabbert is back under center for Miami.

The veteran QB left in the first quarter with an injury, but is back on the field for the second half.

— Jack Mueller (@jack_mueller15) October 26, 2024

Keyon Mozee

Helping with the recent offensive output has been senior running back Keyon Mozee. He had just 60 combined rushing yards in the first three games. Since then, he has posted four 100-yard games and Miami is 4-0 when Mozee goes for 100-plus yards (UMass, EMU, Ohio and CMU). Miami’s offensive line is the most experienced unit on the 2024 roster. Reid Holskey has started each of the last 48 games for the Red and White and is followed by Will Jados (32), Kolby Borders (31), and John Young (22). Those four have combined to start 133 games.

Matt Salopek

Linebacker Salopek, the reigning 2023 MAC Defensive Player of the Year, has 463 career tackles and has surpassed 100 stops in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The last time Miami had a player record 100-plus tackles three straight seasons was Matt Pusateri from 2002-04 and no RedHawk has ever secured 100-plus tackles in four-straight seasons. His 463 tackles ranks eighth all-time in program history.

Slow starts are nothing new for Miami football, mostly due to the tough non-conference schedule the team plays annually. Since 2016, Miami continues to improve as the season moves forward. In the months of Aug./Sept. Miami is 13-23. In October, Miami is 19-14 and by the time they reach November, the RedHawks are 18-5.

Ball State Cardinals +375

Ball State (3-5, 2-2 MAC) still has an outside shot of reaching the MAC title game but can’t afford another loss. The Cardinals were double-digit home underdogs in their most recent game on Oct. 26 and upset Northern Illinois 25-23 as— Jackson Courville booted a career-long, 52-yard field goal as time expired. The sophomore made four field goals, including fourth-quarter kicks from 50 and 52 yards.

Jackson Courville

Courville entered the game 0-of-4 from 50 yards or longer. He became just the second Ball State kicker ever to make multiple 50-yard field goals in the same game, and the first in 40 years. Courville became the first Cardinals’ placekicker with two 50-yarders in the same season since Steven Schott in 2012 (51 at Indiana; 52 vs. EMU).

Last Game

Ball State controlled the game’s tempo by dominating the possession battle, nearly 35 minutes to 25 by the Huskies. The Cardinals earned three turnovers, to none by NIU, and Ball State finished 10-of-18 on third down against a Huskies team that led the country in third-down defense. Ball State’s four takeaways and 4-0 turnover margin vs. NIU were the most by the Cardinals since a 20-3 win over Buffalo in 2021.

Tanner Koziol

BSU has one of the country’s top tight ends in Koziol. He caught exactly nine passes for the fifth time this season. He gained 78 yards and scored two touchdowns in what was his first game with multiple TDs since 2022. Ranked fifth nationally with 8.0 receptions per game, Koziol’s 64 catches and 580 yards this season rank third and fifth, respectively, by a Cardinals tight end. He needs four catches to break the single-season mark (67) established by Mike Leuck in 1983. Koziol’s three-year total of 133 career catches is just 25 shy of Ball State’s career record for a TE (158 by Darius Hill, 2005-08). Quarterback Kadin Semonza has thrown for 1,749 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.

Similar to Harold Fannin at Bowling Green, Tanner Koziol has been the leading force for the Ball State offense (has caught 6 of the team's 16 passing TDs and 64 of 184 completed passes)

He's 6'7'', 232 lbs, but doesn't get slowed down by his bigger frame. Seems to hold up as a… https://t.co/u0OmH6WjWI

— Anthony Russo (@Anthony_Russo97) November 1, 2024

Fumbles

Ball State is one of just 17 schools to have lost only one fumble or less this season. Only three schools — Iowa State, Louisiana and Syracuse — haven’t lost a single fumble. The Cardinals join 14 FBS programs who have lost just one. BSU has scored on 21 of 23 visits inside the Red Zone this season – including 21 in a row. The Cardinals (91.3%) rank 28th in the Red Zone among all FBS teams.

Mike Neu

Currently tied with Dwight Wallace for fourth in Ball State football history with 40 career victories, Mike Neu will stand alone as the Cardinals’ fourth-winningest head coach with a victory Tuesday. Each of Ball State’s past four losses to the RedHawks have come by a single possession — 38-31, 24-17, 18-17 and 17-15. The Redhawks and Cardinals met on the final day of the regular season in both 2022 and 2023 — with each game decided on the game’s final series and by a total of just three points (18-17 and 17-15).

How to Watch and Bet Miami (OH) at Ball State Odds NCAA Football

When: Tuesday, 8 PM ET
Where: Scheumann Stadium
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+

Miami (Ohio) vs Ball State Series History

The RedBird Rivalry trophy game between Ball State and Miami, two universities separated by a little more than 70 miles, is in its sixth year. The rivalry between the schools dates back to a 1931 meeting in Oxford, Ohio, but didn’t blossom until Ball State joined the MAC in the mid-1970s. Miami leads the series 23-13-1 against the Cardinals and are 10-7 all-time in Muncie. The RedHawks have captured seven of the last eight meetings between the two programs, including each of the last four.

NCAA Football Betting Center

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