Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 72. Miami (OH)
The Cradle of Coaches
The Cradle of Coaches. Miami’s earned this name for good reason. They’ve produced NFL/College Football Hall of Fame coaches Paul Brown, Ara Parseghian, Weeb Ewbank, Woody Hayes, and Bo Schembechler. That’s not even counting John McVay, Sean McVay, John Harbaugh, Ron Zook, and Terry Hoeppner. Just an incredible track record of developing coaches. Miami’s won 22 conference titles in their history, but only 4 in the last 40 years. While Miami hasn’t been as good recently as they’ve been historically, they’ve still been good enough to make #72 on this list.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 4 | Miami (OH) | 2003 | 39.244 | 13-1 |
| 21 | Miami (OH) | 1998 | 20.893 | 10-1 |
| 20 | Miami (OH) | 1995 | 18.933 | 8-2-1 |
| 22 | Miami (OH) | 1997 | 14.543 | 8-3 |
| 28 | Miami (OH) | 1985 | 10.263 | 8-2-1 |
| 32 | Miami (OH) | 2020 | 8.586 | 2-1 |
| 31 | Miami (OH) | 1986 | 5.279 | 8-4 |
| 43 | Miami (OH) | 2010 | 2.369 | 10-4 |
| 48 | Miami (OH) | 1999 | -3.512 | 7-4 |
| 56 | Miami (OH) | 2002 | -4.547 | 7-5 |
| 44 | Miami (OH) | 1992 | -4.761 | 6-4-1 |
| 50 | Miami (OH) | 2005 | -4.921 | 7-4 |
| 46 | Miami (OH) | 1996 | -5.558 | 6-5 |
| 47 | Miami (OH) | 2004 | -5.695 | 8-5 |
| 55 | Miami (OH) | 2001 | -6.056 | 7-5 |
| 48 | Miami (OH) | 1991 | -6.365 | 6-4-1 |
| 68 | Miami (OH) | 2021 | -9.465 | 7-6 |
| 75 | Miami (OH) | 2018 | -11.544 | 6-6 |
| 67 | Miami (OH) | 2019 | -11.556 | 8-6 |
| 61 | Miami (OH) | 1994 | -12.978 | 5-5-1 |
| 61 | Miami (OH) | 1990 | -13.864 | 5-5-1 |
| 68 | Miami (OH) | 2000 | -14.634 | 6-5 |
| 63 | Miami (OH) | 1987 | -17.196 | 5-6 |
| 92 | Miami (OH) | 2017 | -21.294 | 5-7 |
| 74 | Miami (OH) | 1983 | -22.728 | 4-7 |
| 92 | Miami (OH) | 2016 | -23.803 | 6-7 |
| 99 | Miami (OH) | 2022 | -25.198 | 6-7 |
| 86 | Miami (OH) | 2007 | -25.273 | 6-7 |
| 78 | Miami (OH) | 1984 | -25.279 | 4-7 |
| 77 | Miami (OH) | 1993 | -26.936 | 4-7 |
| 95 | Miami (OH) | 2011 | -29.978 | 4-8 |
| 96 | Miami (OH) | 2012 | -32.499 | 4-8 |
| 91 | Miami (OH) | 1989 | -42.582 | 2-8-1 |
| 112 | Miami (OH) | 2015 | -45.736 | 3-9 |
| 109 | Miami (OH) | 2006 | -48.071 | 2-10 |
| 120 | Miami (OH) | 2014 | -49.678 | 2-10 |
| 115 | Miami (OH) | 2008 | -56.98 | 2-10 |
| 116 | Miami (OH) | 2009 | -58.477 | 1-11 |
| 101 | Miami (OH) | 1988 | -60.159 | 0-10-1 |
| 125 | Miami (OH) | 2013 | -79.056 | 0-12 |
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 13164 (72nd)218-238-8 record
4 conference titles
3-5 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
19 NFL players drafted
1 extremely good year, 2-3 really great years, and a whole lot of solid years. Miami’s 19th best season is an 8-6 2019 season where they won the MAC. 8 bowl appearances isn’t really indicative of Miami’s success, as they’ve had 19 winning seasons, there just weren’t as many bowls back then as there are now. No consensus All-Americans and less than 20 NFL players drafted is the worst resume of any team this high, but people don’t care too much because of the success of QB Ben Roethlisberger, easily the most famous alum at this point.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2013 (0-12 overall, 0-8 MAC)
Not. Good. 2013 Miami averaged just 9.8 PPG, worst in the nation. They were held to 7 points or less 5 times, with a season high of 16 points in a 16-41 loss to Ohio. Miami lost by 30+ points 6 times, with 2 of those coming against 2-10 Kentucky and 4-8 Illinois teams. The worst loss of all was probably 10-17 to UMass, who finished 1-11 on the season. For the season, Miami’s QBs combined to complete just 46% of throws with 8 TD 11 INT. The run game was arguably worse, averaging just 2.7 YPC as a team. Under coach Don Treadwell, the Redhawks went from winning the MAC in 2010 to 4-8, 4-8, and 0-5 in his 3 years, showing how far a program can fall with the wrong hire. Treadwell was fired 5 games into 2013 and former QB Mike Bath wasn’t much better at interim.
This is my 3rd worst team since 1983. They stunk.
5. 1985 (8-2-1 overall, 7-1-1 MAC)
A 1-2 start included losses to eventual MAC champions and 11-1 team Bowling Green, and #7 Oklahoma State. Miami was perfect the rest of the way, and had they scored just one more TD in the 24-28 loss to Bowling Green, they would’ve been MAC champs. Miami only beat one team with a winning record all year, winning 19-14 over 7-3 Central Michigan, but won both rivalry games, 29-22 over Ohio and 16-10 over Cincinnati to end the year. It was certainly a different time to play QB, as Miami as a team threw for just 8 TD to 15 INT. Starting QB Terry Morris accounted for 6 of those TDs and 11 of those INTs, but would go on to win MAC Offensive POTY in 1986 for Miami’s conference title winning team. The 1985 offense was largely carried by RB George Swarn, who racked up 1935 yards and 16 TD from scrimmage. Defensively, DBs Troy White and Todd Snyder were a solid duo, combining for 9 INTs.
4. 1997 (8-3 overall, 6-2 MAC)
A season opening 27-10 win over defending MAC champion Ball State set the tone for the rest of the year. After a 3-1 start to the year, Miami traveled to Blacksburg to play #14 Virginia Tech, who was 20 point favorites. Thanks to a blocked punt and fake FG, Miami escaped with the 24-17 upset to get the nation buzzing. After a 62-26 win over Kent State and a huge 45-21 win over 5-1 Marshall, Miami controlled their destiny for the MAC title game as long as they won out. Unfortunately after a non-conference loss to rival Cincy, Miami fell 28-35 in a hard fought game with #22 Toledo. Miami had another big 45-21 win over 8-1 Ohio to end the year, but it wasn’t enough as Marshall made the MAC title game at 7-1 over Miami’s 6-2 conference record. A dominant 42-0 win over Northern Illinois to end the year was icing on the cake. The offense ranked 5th in the country with 37.5 PPG while the defense gave up just 20.5 PPG. RB Travis Prentice ran for 1549 yards and led the nation with 25(!) rushing TD. The best from Prentice was yet to come.
3. 1995 (8-2-1 overall, 6-1-1 MAC)
3 of these top 5 seasons fall under coach Randy Walker’s reign from 1990-98, who parlayed his success into a job at Northwestern, where he won a Big Ten title in 2000. Speaking of Northwestern, Miami just so happened to beat a #25 Northwestern team on ESPN2 in 1995! This wasn’t just any Northwestern team: This was the national defensive player of the year Pat Fitzgerald-led Rose Bowl-appearing 10-1 regular season Northwestern team. The loss was a low point for Northwestern, but this Miami team turned out to be pretty damn good. Miami followed up with a 23-16 win over rival Cincinnati. They got their second crack at a big dog visiting #8 Michigan, but could only muster a 19-38 loss this time. From then on, Miami was (near) perfect. A 5-0-1 streak to end the year put Miami at 2nd place in the MAC, just behind 7-0-1 Toledo who Miami tied 28-28. If not for a season opening loss to Ball State, Miami would’ve shared the 1995 title with the Rockets. QB Sam Rickets was L33T, throwing for 1337 yards, while RB Deland McCullough was top 10 in the nation in rushing with 1627 rushing yards and 14 TD.
2. 1998 (10-1 overall, 7-1 MAC)
Now back to 1998 with RB Travis Prentice, this defense was DASTARDLY. They gave up an average of just 12.9 PPG, holding 8 of 11 opponents to 14 points or less. If top 25 ranked Power conference teams didn’t get the memo to stop scheduling Miami, they certainly did after 1998. #12 North Carolina hosted the Redhawks hoping for a tune-up game, but Miami nailed a 37 yard FG as time expired to claim a 13-10 win. A 3-0 start also included a 28-14 win over eventual MAC West champion Toledo. That led to a matchup with Chad Pennington’s Marshall dynasty that would ultimately determine the MAC East, with Marshall winning 31-17. Miami was flawless the rest of the year, going 7-0 with an average win of 35-11. They finished the year 10-1 and tied for 1st place in the East, but Marshall got the tiebreaker with their earlier win. It’s absurd that this team didn’t earn a bowl bid or finish in the top 25. RB Travis Prentice had his best season of his career, ranking 2nd in the nation with 1787 rushing yards and 19 TD, winning MAC MVP and Offensive POTY. Prentice would go on to finish with 5596 yards and 73 TD in his career, which were 5th and 1st all-time in the NCAA when he left (currently 9th and 3rd).
1. 2003 (13-1 overall, 8-0 MAC)
Big Ben’s magnum opus. For what would be the greatest offense in school history, the opening game was kind of a let down. Suffering a 3-21 loss to Iowa in the opener, Miami wouldn’t score less than 33 in a game for the rest of the year, averaging 46 PPG. The loss to Iowa was followed up with a 44-14 beating of an eventual 6-7 Northwestern team, 41-21 over eventual Mountain West 3rd placed Colorado State, and 42-37 over rival Cincy. Thus began the MAC slog. The rest of the conference was no match all year long. After beating up 7-5 Akron, Miami blew out Buffalo and Ball State by a combined 108-6 scoreline. The MAC was really really good this year. 7-1 Miami hosted #20 Bowling Green, who had already beaten #12 Northern Illinois, #16 Purdue, and lost to #4 Ohio State by 1 TD. Miami showed there were levels to this game though, winning 33-10 and entering the top 25 themselves. Matched up with 6-3 Marshall to determine first place in the MAC East, Miami left no doubt, dominating 45-6 and essentially clinching a spot in the title game. #15 Miami met #23 Bowling Green for a rematch, but again Miami was clearly the better team, accumulating nearly 600 yards of total offense in a 49-27 win. Even Bobby Petrino’s 9-3 Louisville team got worked in the bowl, with Miami beating them 49-28 to finish 13-1.
Miami finished 10th in the AP Poll, but my algorithm was SUPER high on them, putting them all the way up at #4 in my final rankings. If not for the season opening loss to an Iowa team that finished 10-3, Miami might’ve made my hypothetical 4-team playoff at 13-0 in 2003. They were dominant, ranking 2nd in the nation in PPG while also being top 25 defensively with 19.4 PPG allowed. Ben Roethlisberger won the MAC Offensive POTY putting up 4486 yards 37 TD 10 INT, also finishing 9th in Heisman voting. WR Martin Nance was Ben’s favorite target, catching 90 passes for 1498 yards and 11 TD. After Nance went undrafted in 2006, he’d bounce around NFL rosters before landing on the Steelers practice squad with Ben from 2008-09. Roethlisberger went on to be an NFL Hall of Famer, of course.
2003 Miami (OH) is my 8th best Group of 5 team since 1983. They’re also the 191st best team overall.
5th Quarter
Wow, what’d you think of that 2003 season? Is that really a top 10 Group of 5 season ever, or is that a bit too much? If they had beaten Iowa and went 13-0, would they have deserved a shot in a 4-team playoff that year? Overall, is Miami’s rank of 72 on this list fair, are they too high, too low? What makes Miami such a breeding ground for coaches?
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