OXFORD, Ohio (Ticker) -- The Mid-American Conference gets an early start on the college football week as Miami of Ohio hosts No. 20 Bowling Green on Tuesday in a possible preview of the league's championship game.
The two teams feature potent offenses and lead their respective divisions and could meet again in the MAC title game on December 6. Bowling Green (7-1, 4-0) has a one-half game lead over Northern Illinois and Toledo in the West and Miami (7-1, 4-0) has a similar lead over Marshall in the East.
Tuesday's contest is just the second night game in the history of Yager Stadium, which opened in 1983. In the other game under the lights, Ball State defeated the RedHawks, 17-15, in 1995.
Bowling Green's only loss this season was a 24-17 defeat at Ohio State on September 20. Since then, the Falcons have reeled off four straight wins and knocked Northern Illinois from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 34-18 victory in their last game. Among Bowling Green's wins this year was a last-second 27-26 triumph at Purdue on September 6.
The Falcons are led by quarterback John Harris, who has passed for 2,285 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. In the win over Northern Illinois, Harris recorded 527 yards of total offense, the second-highest single-game total in MAC history.
Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon joins Louisville's Bobby Petrino as the only rookie coaches with just one loss. Washington State's Bill Doba suffered his second defeat last week.
The Falcons rank second in the nation in total offense (529.5 ypg) and fifth in passing offense (327.8).
Miami ranks fifth in total offense (490.1) and also comes into the game on a roll, having won seven straight since a season-opening 21-3 loss at Iowa. However, the RedHawks needed to rally for a 38-30 win at Kent State last week, a game in which they set a school record with 632 yards of total offense.
Ben Roethlisberger passed for 409 yards, the fifth time in the last six games he has thrown for more than 300 yards. During its winning streak, Miami is averaging 45.4 points and 516.7 yards.
The teams met for 52 straight years, but did not play in 2002 since Bowling Green switched to the MAC West. In their last encounter in 2001, Miami posted a 24-21 win. Harris was installed as the Falcons' starting quarterback the next week and has been there ever since.
Miami has won the last four meetings and leads the all-time series, 36-18-5.
