In 2014, Martin inherited a winless RedHawks team that he turned around to earn two MAC championships and be bowl-eligible in seven of the last eight seasons.
Martin’s record-breaking win was anything but normal.
Miami (4-4, 3-1 MAC) opened the game with a Dom Dzioban 31-yard field goal with 10:04 in the first quarter.
The Chippewas then ran the ball through the Miami defense on a 75-yard drive ending with Myles Bailey bouncing a run outside for a 2-yard touchdown to put Central Michigan up 7-3 with 1:59 left in the first quarter. The rest was all Miami.
On the RedHawks’ second drive, quarterback Brett Gabbert went down with an injury and was replaced by. redshirt junior Henry Hesson.
After driving down to CMU’s 9-yard line, Hesson split a double team to deliver a ball straight to Reggie Virgil’s hands in the back of the endzone to put the RedHawks up 10-7 just 11 seconds into the second quarter.
Dzioban kicked two more first-half field goals, one from 22 and another from 23, to put the RedHawks up 16-7 at halftime..
When Miami took the field in the second half, Gabbert was back under center.
“Brett came over and heard we were going with [Hesson] and basically told us, ‘I’m going back in. I came back. This is all I got. I’m going in,’” said Martin, who noted Gabbert was cleared to return.
Gabbert returned to the game and efficiently cut up the defense with 10 completions for 165 yards and one touchdown.
Miami put up 10 points in the third quarter with a 51-yard field goal from Dzioban and a 36-yard touchdown pass from Gabbert to Javon Tracy that put the RedHawks ahead 26-7 with 6:18 left in the third quarter.
Gabbert was 10-for-12 passing for 165 yards and Hesson was 5 for 12 for 76 yards. They each had one touchdown pass. Tracy had 118 yards on five receptions.
The fourth quarter saw Hesson return to the field to lead an offense that totaled 518 yards, including 277 on the ground. A majority of the rushing yards came from Keyon Mozee, who had 125 yards on 15 carries. Jordan Brunson and Kevin Davis combined for 149 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries with both breaking off runs longer than 60 yards.
The RedHawks punched in two touchdowns on the ground in the fourth and two field goals, one from Dzioban and one for Kellan McLaughlin. Dzioban’s fifth kick of the day tied a school record for made field goals in a game.
Although the win etched Martin’s name in the history book, he said the win was just another step in what he’s calling the “MAC tournament” that is the rest of the season.
“You better keep winning if you want to have any chance [at a conference championship],” Martin said. “I really want it for these guys, all these guys that came back. Brett comes back, and [Salopek] comes back along with a lot of other guys. I’d love to see them run the table and get our shot at this thing, man, that would be awesome.”
Central Michigan fell to 3-5, 1-3.
NEXT GAME
Tuesday, Nov. 5
Miami at Ball State, 7:30 or 8 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
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