Miami stakes fame claim over No. 15 Bowling Green

Oxford's Redhawks walloped the Falcons, 33-10.
OXFORD (AP) -- Long before the malfunctioning clock finally reached zero, the red-clad home team was celebrating a night that will go down in Miami of Ohio lore.
A 33-10 victory over No. 15 Bowling Green showed a national television audience Tuesday night that these RedHawks deserve a spot in the national rankings.
"I don't think anybody at Miami has experienced a game like we did tonight," said Martin Nance, who had 10 catches for 169 yards.
Not in the last 29 years, anyway.
Miami (8-1, 5-0 Mid-American Conference) hasn't been ranked since the end of the 1974 season. The RedHawks knew heading into the game that they were only a few poll votes and one upset win away from cracking the Top 25.
They got the victory by relying on a defense that has been eclipsed all season by a prominent quarterback.
Harris harassed
Ben Roethlisberger threw for 230 yards and scored on a 1-yard sneak, but it was the defense that made it all possible. Under constant pressure, Bowling Green quarterback Josh Harris fumbled three times and was never able to get the conference's top offense rolling.
"Miami of Ohio is on fire right now," said Harris, who was 20-of-35 for only 160 yards. "Because they've got a great quarterback, people stopped talking about their defense. They've got a great defense."
Bowling Green (7-2, 4-1) was so out of whack that it looked overmatched as Miami pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 23-3. An offense that averaged 36 points and 529.5 yards per game couldn't seem to do anything right.
"It seemed at times like we were impostors out there," Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon said.
Ragged first half
Both teams played like impostors during a ragged first half -- five turnovers, a missed field by Bowling Green and an unusual problem with the clock.
During a timeout with only 26 seconds showing before halftime, the officials realized the scoreboard clock was off by a minute -- an electrical surge was blamed. They restored the minute, and Harris threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to a diving Charles Sharon on the next play, cutting Miami's lead to 10-7.
The clock problem caused confusion, but didn't figure in the outcome. Instead, it came down to which of the two prolific quarterbacks made the most mistakes.
Roethlisberger fumbled and threw a wobbly interception at the 1-yard line in the first half. As soon as the second half started, he settled in.
On the first drive, he made a nifty fake and threw a 49-yard pass to Nance, who beat the duped safety. Mike Smith's 5-yard touchdown run on the next play made it 17-7.
By contrast, Bowling Green's dual-threat quarterback never emerged from his funk.
Harris' second fumble of the game led to Roethlisberger's 1-yard sneak for a 24-7 lead midway through the third quarter. Harris' final fumble set up Miami's clinching score, a 2-yard run by Cal Murray with 3:45 left.
That's when the celebration began.
"The second half is one we're going to remember for a long time," coach Terry Hoeppner said.
Bowling Green had trouble making sense of what had just happened.
"We were in position to make plays, and we didn't," linebacker Mitch Hewitt said disgustedly. "We didn't get to the quarterback. We were missing tackles. We had penalties. It was a complete disaster."