Miami (OH) Runs for 324 and Picks Off Akron Four Times
Four interceptions. That was the game. Akron's Brayden Roggow threw 38 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown and gave the ball to Miami (OH) four times, and the RedHawks turned that and a 324-yard rushing day into a 34-14 win.
Akron scored first, on a 6-yard Roggow pass to Marcel Williams with 5:18 left in the first quarter. Miami answered 4:07 later when Rodney Nelson ran in from 9 yards, and from there Akron never led again. A Kellan McLaughlin field goal and a 27-yard Caleb Heavner touchdown pass to Damarion Witten made it 17-7 by halftime. Another McLaughlin field goal early in the third was followed 46 seconds later by Blayne Myrick's 36-yard interception return for a touchdown, and it was 27-7.
That pick-six is the swing. Without it Miami has 27 points, still a comfortable lead, so this was not one play deciding things so much as one more thing going wrong. Jordan Gant ran in a 10-yarder with 49 seconds left in the third to make it 27-14, and Nelson then broke a 58-yard run to open the fourth. That was the last score of the day.
Miami threw for 65 yards (Heavner went 8 of 16, with one interception) and ran 35 times for 324, finishing with 389 total yards to Akron's 323. Miami is 4-3. Akron is 1-6. Akron also sacked Heavner 2 times, but that does not do much for you when your quarterback has four picks. In fantasy terms, Nelson came in averaging 7.3 points a game and left with 26.2, which is the kind of Saturday that gets a waiver claim made too late.