Notre Dame Football: Miami RedHawks Q&A with Hustle Belt

Let’s see if this weirdo Irish team can actually take care of a MAC team at home on the second try!!!

Hey you guuuuyyyyysssssss!!!!

It’s somehow almost game day again for our weird and wacky Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team who’s won a big game on the road, lost to a MAC team at home, and then eviscerated a Big Ten opponent in their own little stadium. What will they do next?? I certainly don’t know!

To help us find out, I reached back out to our good friends at Hustle Belt, SB Nation’s center for MAC coverage and the site you may remember from our Q&A two weeks ago when they tried to tell us about the talented guys on the Northern Illinois roster. This time, I spoke with staff writer Steve Helwick to get the lowdown on the defending MAC champion Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, coached by former ND OC Chuck Martin and sporting an 0-2 record after losses to Northwestern and Cincinnati to start the year.

Steve was awesome in answering a wide array of questions about Brett Gabbert’s seemingly 100th year as a starter, how the RedHawks defense matches up with this one-pronged ND offensive attack, whom the MAC should poach from the Big Ten, and much more. So, because he gave us a lot of great stuff and I’m already a day late getting this published, let’s not waste any more time. Here’s what Steve had to say:

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1. Former ND OC Chuck Martin seems to have done a really nice job turning Miami into a winning program again, considering the RedHawks are fresh off an 11-3 season where they won the MAC championship.

Do you think Miami has it in them to repeat this year (despite the 0-2 start), and do you think Martin will get this program to a point where it’s competing for the G5 Playoff spot at some point?

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: Winning back-to-back MAC championships seems like an impossible feat these days as nobody has done it since 2011 and 2012 Northern Illinois. The MAC title is often won by veteran teams where everything comes together, only to have their talent gutted by graduation and the transfer portal. This Miami team actually did a pretty good job of retention, bringing back the majority of starters on both sides of the ball. Can things come together before MAC play? Sure, we saw Miami start 1-3 with a 76-5 loss to Ohio State in 2019 and channel that frustration onto their MAC brethren en route to a conference crown.

But the MAC is deep this year. Northern Illinois beat Notre Dame in a war of attrition in the trenches. Toledo ransacked Starkville, MS and obliterated Mississippi State. Bowling Green went toe-to-toe with Penn State and might be the most complete team in the league. This isn’t a 2016 Western Michigan situation where one team is miles above the rest, so I don’t think a repeat is likely, although possible. And for the MAC to attain a playoff spot as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions, history suggests the champion must be 13-0 or 12-1 with chaos transpiring in other league title games. Maybe Northern Illinois can get by with 11-2 thanks to the merit of a certain non-conference win it has.

Michael Clubb / USA TODAY NETWORK

2. Brett Gabbert is back yet again, somehow, as Miami’s QB this season. What does he do well, and what weaknesses could you see this Notre Dame defense potentially exploiting on Saturday to try to slow him down?

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: Brett Gabbert is a six-year starter, yet he put together one of his most impressive performances just one week ago vs. Cincinnati. He delivered 339 passing yards, connecting on deep shot after deep shot with five 35+ yard bombs in the rivalry game. If you look at Gabbert’s career stats, the efficiency numbers don’t exactly stand out, but that’s because he likes to attempt throws like that. He delivers good placement on his deep balls too and rarely gets intercepted. This year has been an exception with three picks through three games, but the last time he was fully healthy in 2021, he tossed 26 touchdowns to six interceptions.

To slow him down, Notre Dame needs to apply ample pressure and eliminate his ability to survey downfield. Northwestern did an exceptional job at this in Week 1, recording four sacks and keeping the sixth-year senior under duress from start to finish.

Miami (FL) also thrived in this facet a year ago in non-conference play, generating three sacks and bottling him up in the pocket. As a result, Miami (OH) didn’t score a single touchdown in either of those outings, hampered by inefficient passing and bereft of explosive plays.

3. The Miami rushing offense looks pretty rough through two games — is it an offensive line issue, or why has the RedHawks offense been so one-dimensional to-date? And with that in mind, who are the offensive skill position guys Irish fans should be wary of for this game?

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: It’s a mix of things. One of the issues is certainly the offensive line, which hasn’t done much better in pass protection allowing seven sacks through two games. But there are missed assignments and the unit isn’t gaining push on defenses, which is surprising. Miami returned four starters on the unit including two All-MAC tackles in Will Jados and Reid Holskey. And the unit is massive, with four of the five linemen 6’6” or taller and all five over 300 pounds. Another factor is the schedule, as Northwestern and Cincinnati present pretty potent defensive fronts which won’t be a weekly occurrence in MAC play. Lastly, Miami is still searching for its No. 1 running back as 1,000-yard rusher Rashad Amos transferred to Ole Miss this offseason, and nobody is really gaining a rhythm because the carries are so split.

The offensive skill position players Notre Dame should be aware of are the receivers. Cade McDonald has emerged into an excellent No. 1 target this year, and First Team All-MAC is likely in his future if he sustains this pace. McDonald leads the MAC with 120 receiving yards per game after a pair of 8-catch, 100+ outings to start his second season with the RedHawks, and he’s a proven explosive downfield threat.

Also, Reggie Virgil entered this season with two career receptions, but the 6’4”, 190 pound receiver appears to be an excellent 50-50 ball fighter, using his frame to box out defenders to corral impressive catches. He’s up to 109 yards on six catches this year as a breakout target alongside McDonald.

4. Tell me about this Miami defense — what position groups are strengths, which are weaknesses, and how do you anticipate they handle an ND offense that still looks lost out there, a quarter of the way into the season?

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: The strength of the Miami defense is unquestionably the linebacking corps. Here resides the reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Year in Matt Salopek, who is looking for his fourth-straight campaign with at least 110 tackles. Salopek is as omnipresent as omnipresent can be on the field, and he’s already up to 19 stops through two games this year. He’s a backfield menace with nine tackles for loss in consecutive seasons and he’s not too shabby in coverage. Middle linebacker Ty Wise is a frequent blitzer, registering eight sacks last year and currently leading the team in tackles for loss with three.

Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images

Overall, the defense is the strength of the team. If there was a unit I would list as a weakness, it would be the defensive line due to a lack of pass rush this year. The defensive line combines for just 0.5 sacks through two contests and didn’t do the best job of stopping Cincinnati’s run game at the first level last week.

But to stop Notre Dame, borrow a page out of the Northern Illinois book. So many times — especially when the Fighting Irish were up 14-13 — the Huskies would simply stack the box and sell out versus the run and force Riley Leonard to pass toward the sidelines on second and third down. Notre Dame passed on seven of its 10 plays with that aforementioned lead, and many of those were incompletions. Operating with a spy on Leonard could be beneficial as well. It’s important to keep him contained in the pocket, because the second he breaks free like he did at Purdue, Notre Dame’s offense can instantly enter a groove.

5. FAN NOT-REALLY-A-QUESTION, JUST A COMMENT:

RELATED QUESTION:

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: Martin didn’t specify either way in his weekly press conference, although he did specify he grew up a diehard Notre Dame fan and that was his first love in sports.

However, Martin and Miami face Hammock and Northern Illinois on Nov. 19 in a battle between MAC contenders, so perhaps the strategy sharing is on hold until Thanksgiving week arrives.

6. FAN QUESTION:

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: Riley Leonard certainly looked healthy in that 100-yard rushing first half with the hat trick against Purdue, so Riley Leonard.

Putting 11 in the box seems quite risky, and I’m not sure if that could work. I’ve seen it work on NCAA 08 before. Sometimes if you ran a punt block versus an under-center quarterback, the game wouldn’t allow the opposing QB ample time to get a throw off, but I’m not sure that will be the case Saturday.

7. FAN QUESTION:

RELATED FAN QUESTION:

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: I actually covered Miami (OH) vs. Miami (FL) last September. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to South Beach, and I considered hitting up The Dirty Rabbit postgame, but the storms were terrible and I had a redeye flight to catch. That calls for another trip to the 305.

Personally, I will always refer to the RedHawks as Miami (OH) and the Hurricanes as Miami (FL). Yes, Miami (OH) was first and its football program predates Miami (FL)’s by 38 years. Anyway, here’s the origin of the university’s name:

“Miami” is derived from the Native American word “Myaamia,” an Alogonquian term which meant “downstream people,” referring to tribes residing around the Great Lakes region. The name was essentially assigned to the tributary of the Ohio River, and then to the valley occupying the surrounding area. So Miami (OH) is named for this valley which it was founded upon in 1809.

8. FAN QUESTION:

FAN FOLLOW-UP:

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: I’m not sure. But there is a Skyline Chili within 20 minutes walking distance of Yager Stadium in Oxford, so I’m sure there’s at least one person at every home game that ate one of those signature cheese coneys within 24 hours of arriving at the venue.

Yes, I’ve always been a major proponent of the “hot dog is a sandwich” movement. It’s meat between bread. The bread doesn’t need to be split into multiple pieces, because it provides enough coverage already, surrounding the hot dog nearly 270 degrees. Now if you ask me if an Oreo is a sandwich, that requires further research and I’m not prepared to deliver an answer.

Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

9. FAN QUESTION:

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt: The MAC is about as stable as a conference can be. Although the league adds former member UMass next year, the 12 current institutions have all been in the league since the late 1990s, and 10 of the 12 teams were members in the 1970s. So it’s a fair question if the ever-stable MAC would even want anyone else.

But looking at the Big Ten, the MAC enjoys playing Purdue and Northwestern quite often, boasting a 4-2 record vs. the Boilermakers and 4-5 record vs. the Wildcats since 2013. Also, that provides a second Indiana team to form a rivalry with Ball State and a second Illinois team to form a rivalry with Northern Illinois, and just like the Big Ten, the MAC loves its rivalry trophies. There’s already the Bronze Stalk, the Victory Cannon, the Wagon Wheel, and the Battle of I-75 Trophy to name a few, and we need more.

Also, I’m especially intrigued with Northwestern at the moment, because does anything scream #MACtion more than its temporary 12,000 seat venue on Lake Michigan? That thing would look incredible in a snow game under the Tuesday night lights.

David Banks-Imagn Images

10. Alright, let’s get down to it: who wins this game, what’s the final score, and please provide a few sentences to support your reasoning.

Steve Helwick, Hustle Belt:

Notre Dame beats Miami (OH), 35-13.

Notre Dame may be shorthanded on the offensive line, but I think this is the week the Fighting Irish start utilizing Jeremiyah Love more, establishing early dominance on the ground against the RedHawks. Additionally, Riley Leonard presents a degree of mobility at the quarterback position Miami struggled with when facing Mike Wright of Northwestern in Week 1, which gives another area Notre Dame can exploit offensively.

If Miami wants to win, it’s going to be in an ugly defensive rock fight similar to the Northern Illinois game. But Notre Dame proved its offensive potency last week, and I’m not sure Miami can match unless all the run game issues are suddenly amended. Still, the RedHawks will get on the board a few times with chunk plays in the passing game.

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Alrighty y’all, I want to give a Rylie-Mills-sized shout-out to Steve for all his awesome, detailed, and fun answers to all our burning questions. I encourage you all to head over to Hustle Belt to check out the coverage that Steve and the crew have about all the MACtion this weekend, including a Q&A with yours truly that should pop up there soon.

Additionally, I highly recommend you all give both Hustle Belt and Steve some follows on Twitter for excellent and hilarious commentary before, during, and after Saturday’s game.

That wraps up this week’s Q&A, folks — as always, GO IRISH, BEAT REDHAWKS!!!