From the other sideline: What Miami (Ohio) is saying ahead of the week 1 matchup
Leading up to the fourth annual “Confusion Bowl” between the Miami Hurricanes and the Miami Redhawks, there has been a bit of a debate on who the real ‘Miami’ is as the two programs meet for the fourth time on Sept. 1 at Hard Rock Stadium.
In their three previous meetings, Miami (Florida) has won all three games at home, defeating Miami (Ohio) by an all-time scoring margin of 101-33. If you’re looking at it from a head-to-head perspective, the Hurricanes are the superior team between the two, but according to the Redhawks starting quarterback, Brett Gabbert, he believes his squad is the real Miami and will prove that come Friday.
“Oxford, Ohio,” Gabbert said when asked where the ‘real Miami’ was. “I think we’ll show them on September 1st.”
Although Gabbert’s comments on who the ‘real Miami’ is may have been said lightheartedly, the redshirt junior does understand the task ahead but believes his team is more than ready to compete against the Hurricanes.
“They’re going to be a talented team; that’s obvious,” Gabbert said. “I think we’re going to be able to scheme some stuff up, and I think it’ll be a good game.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Redhawks safety Jaquez Warren expressed his excitement about matching up against the Hurricanes as well as a bit of uncertainty.
It is well documented that the Hurricanes had their fair share of struggles on offense last season under Josh Gattis, but with the arrival of new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, the Hurricanes are looking to leave those woes behind, and that may present a tough task for Warren and the Redhawks defense.
“We’re going into the game with the unknown because I think they have a new offensive coordinator,” Warren said. “I think their offense was not where it wanted to be for the past few years, so I would say they’re trying to hang some points on our heads and show that ‘Hey we may be the best team in the MAC, so to speak, but they’re probably going to try and test that theory and give us all they’ve got’. A lot of things that we saw are just trying to figure out what they’re going to try and throw at us, and a lot of stuff looks like they’re going to try to give us everything that they’ve got.”
Warren believes if Miami (Ohio) can keep its poise and stick together, it will have a fighting chance of upsetting the favored Hurricanes and claiming a win in the matchup dubbed the “Confusion Bowl” for the first time in school history.
“Just us staying together will be our biggest key for us beating Miami,” Warren said. “Miami is a really good team, and we look at ourselves as a really good team also. So I think our strength will be just staying together, whether things are going good or they’re going bad, we’ve got each other’s backs, so that’ll be the biggest thing going into Miami.”
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