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Miami quarterback Zac Dysert scrambles with the football against Bowling Green Thursday, Nov. 12., 2009, at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy/Staff photo by Nick Daggy Miami quarterback Zac Dysert scrambles with the football against Bowling Green Thursday, Nov. 12., 2009, at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio.

Buffalo WR Roosevelt coming off MAC Player of Week performance

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:24 AM Wednesday, November 18, 2009

OXFORD — It seems the Miami University football team can’t help but run smack into the hottest offensive player in the Mid-American Conference, week after week.

Two weeks ago it was Temple running back Bernard Pierce, coming off back-to-back 200-yard games.

Last week it was Bowling Green wide receiver Freddie Barnes, who leads the nation in just about every pass-catching category.

Now the RedHawks have to deal with Buffalo senior wideout Naam Roosevelt.

All Roosevelt did last week was catch eight passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns, set the Buffalo record with 3,551 career receiving yards and earn the nod as MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week.

But although Miami coach Michael Haywood is concerned about Roosevelt in the season finale tonight, Nov. 18, at Yager Stadium, he seems more concerned with the player who is on the front end of those passes.

“He’s an outstanding receiver,” Haywood said of Roosevelt, “but I also think their quarterback is special.”

That quarterback is Zach Maynard, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound sophomore who is as much of a double threat as tonight’s other starting quarterback who happens to have a similar first name, Miami’s Zac Dysert.

“He can beat you with his feet,” Haywood said of Maynard. “If he doesn’t stay in the pocket, he’s going to give us problems because we can’t run him down.

“He throws the ball extremely well on the run,” the Miami coach pointed out. “We’re going to try to see if he can throw the ball that well in the pocket because we’re going to try to confine him.”

Maynard has thrown for 2,377 yards with a completion rate of 58.4 percent, and he has run for 227 yards.

His statistics are similar to those of Dysert, who has thrown for 2,417 yards with a completion rate of 61.3 percent, with 231 yards rushing.

Despite the Maynard-to-Roosevelt connection, this has been a disappointing season for the defending MAC champions, who opened with a 23-17 victory at Texas-El Paso and have since lost seven of nine games.

The Bulls will be without two-year starting offensive tackle Andrew West, a 6-6, 302-pound senior who is serving a one-game suspension from both Buffalo coach Turner Gill and the MAC office for unsportsmanlike conduct.

During the fourth quarter of Buffalo’s 27-24 loss to Ohio last week West was ejected from the game for a flagrant personal foul.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197

or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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