WEDNESDAY’S GAME

Miami at Northern Illinois, 8 p.m., ESPNU, 980, 1450 age, but there’s no doubt he left his mark on the football programs of both schools.

His combined 64 MAC wins and .674 winning percent- age rank ninth in the conference record books.

“It’ll give us a little extra heartbeat,” Martin said. “It adds to the moment.”

The RedHawks are com- ing off a 30-28 win over Ohio in which they scored touchdowns on four of their five first-half possessions to take a 28-7 halftime lead before needing a safety to pull out a 30-28 win – their first under Martin in a combined 10 rivalry games against Cincinnati and the Bobcats.

“We haven’t done it since I’ve been here,” junior tight end Nate Becker, who’s in his fifth season in Oxford. “It’s a feeling I can’t describe. That’s the first time we’ve beaten a rival.”

Ohio, which had aver- aged 53.3 points in its previous three outings, got just 14 from its offense against a Miami defense that has lost six projected starters since the start of the season.

“It’s a tough situation, but you have to keep moving forward,” said junior cornerback Zedrick Raymond, one of three defensive players to start every game this season. “Dudes have to step up and fill in.”

“We did a really good job on their quarterback,” Martin said. “Their tailback hurt us consistently, but we did a good job with their passing game. We stopped two of the three phases of their offense. The defense played well all day. They fought and scratched on every play.

“It was an awesome win. It was great to win the ‘Battle of the Bricks’ and gain some momentum going up against another tough opponent.”

Martin didn’t anticipate that his players would have trouble putting the win behind them and moving on to NIU (7-3, 6-0).

“They know it’s a challenge going on the road and playing there,” Martin said. “Everybody’s excited. You have to move forward pretty quickly. It comes down to how well you handle it as players. There are no off weeks.”