RedHawks' record doesn't fool Rockets

As the Mid-American Conference defending champions, the Miami RedHawks haven't gotten off to the hottest of starts this season.

Blame a tough, early nonconference schedule or a good team not playing up to par, but Miami is just 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the MAC entering tonight's homecoming contest at the Glass Bowl.

If there's one person that can identify with the RedHawks and won't be fooled by their less than stellar marks, it's University of Toledo coach Tim Beckman.

The Rockets (4-3, 3-0) stumbled out of the gates with a 1-3 record, but never lost sight of the fact that they could and would be a championship contender in the MAC.

Asked earlier this week how deceiving Miami's record is, Beckman said it's "probably as deceiving as ours was."

"First and foremost, they're champions," Beckman added. "A lot of the guys on that football team have a championship ring that says 'champions' on it. They won the [conference] championship last year and then they went down and won a bowl game [GoDaddy.com Bowl]."

After becoming the first team in Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) history to go from double-digits losses (1-11 in 2009) to double-digit wins (10-4 in 2010), Miami dropped its first four games to start the 2011 campaign.

The RedHawks suffered road losses to Missouri and Minnesota, and home losses to Bowling Green and Cincinnati before rebounding in the last two weeks with victories over Army and Kent State.

"They were in every one of those [losses]," Beckman said. "I think they're very competitive, and it should be a heck of a battle for us."

Toledo hasn't won a homecoming game since 2007, something that's been mentioned a lot this week by players and coaches alike.

To accomplish that goal set forth in preseason camp by the team's seniors, UT will have to slow down junior quarterback Zac Dysert, who has thrown for 1,503 yards and seven touchdowns this season, and sophomore receiver Nick Harwell, who has caught 39 passes for 637 yards, and two touchdowns.

The RedHawks also have the one of the MAC's top defenses, ranking third in scoring defense (23.5 points allowed per game) and total defense (348.7 yards allowed per game).

"They're a great team," UT senior cornerback Taikwon Paige said. "Their 2-4 record doesn't really mean anything to us. We know they've played some great teams and been in a couple great battles this year, so we're going to go out there and take it as another challenge to try to beat them."

Contact Zach Silka at: zsilka@theblade.com, 419-724-6084 or on Twitter @ZachSilka.