Outside of the RedHawks locker room, there wasn’t anyone who could have predicted the turnaround that Miami would have in 2010. After finishing just 1-11 (1-7 MAC) in 2009, the RedHawks would win the MAC East with a 7-1 conference mark, upset Northern Illinois 26-21 in the MAC Title Game and crush Middle Tennessee 35-21 in the GoDaddy.com Bowl to finish the year 10-4 overall. It was the first time in NCAA history a team went from double digit losses to double digit wins in just one season.

The incredible turnaround landed head coach Mike Haywood the open job at Pittsburgh, but was later fired after he was arrested on felony domestic violence charges. The new head coach at Miami is former team captain and assistant coach Don Treadwell, who was most recently the offensive coordinator at Michigan State. Treadwell steps into a great situation with 17 starters back from last year’s team, but defending the MAC title will be no easy task. Here is a look at what Miami will send to the field on both sides of the ball, plus my thoughts on where they will finish in the MAC standings.

Offense

The RedHawks have an interesting battle at quarterback between junior Zac Dysert and sophomore Austin Boucher. Dsyert started the first 10 games of the season, but was injured in the win over Bowling Green. That opened the door for Boucher to start the final four games and he responded by leading Miami to four straight wins, including the MAC Championship Game against Northern Illinois and the win over Middle Tennessee in the bowl game. Both are capable of leading the offense in 2011 and the starter likely won’t be decided until the end of fall practice.

While Miami is set at quarterback, they will have to replace top running back Thomas Merriweather and top wide receiver Armand Robinson.  

From the looks of things, sophomore Tracy Woods has the edge to replace Merriweather. Woods finished second on the team with 376 yards on just 94 carries as a true freshman.  

While the RedHawks lose a very good player in Robinson, they also bring back one of the top young wide outs in the conference in sophomore Nick Harwell, who caught 64 passes for 871 yards and six touchdowns in 2010.  Other players who should make a big impact in the passing game this year are senior Chris Givens, senior DeMarco Paine and junior Andy Cruse.

The RedHawks offensive line struggled to start the year in 2010, but once they moved right tackle Matt Kennedy over to left tackle, this unit really picked it up. After moving Kennedy to the left side, Northern Illinois went from averaging just 63 rushing yards in their first nine games to 162 over the final five. With Kennedy back at left tackle and three other starters back, this unit is expected to really be a force all season.

Defense

The biggest reason the RedHawks made such a remarkable improvement from 2009 to 2010 was how much better they played on the defensive side of the ball. Miami was torched for 34.2 ppg in 2009, but held opponents to just 23.2 last year. With nine starters back, even more progress should be made in 2011.

Miami really improved their run defense in 2010, holding opponents to just 128 yards a game after allowing 187 yards in 2009. They should continue to have success shutting down the running game with three starters back. The player to keep your eye on is junior defensive tackle Austin Brown, who finished with 53 tackles, three sacks and seven tackles for loss.

At linebacker, the RedHawks are loaded with talent, as they return all three starters from last year. Senior middle linebacker Jerrell Wedge and junior weak-side linebacker Evan Harris finished one and two in tackles last year and are considered to be two of the best the MAC has to offer at their positions.

The improved run defense and the fact that Miami was winning a lot of games late forced opposing teams to throw a lot more on them in 2010. They ended up allowing 21 more yards a game, but opposing quarterbacks completed a lower percentage. They have two outstanding corners coming back in junior D.J. Brown and sophomore Dayonne Nunley and should have one of the top safety duos in the conference with senior Anthony Kokal and junior Pat Hinkel.  This is easily the top rated secondary in the MAC heading into the season.

2011 Prediction: Second MAC East—I had a very difficult time picking the RedHawks to finish outside of the top spot, but I feel like this team really overachieved in 2010. They are still going to be one of the top teams in the MAC, but the schedule is a lot harder this time around. In 2009 most of their tough games were at home. This year it’s the other way around, as they have to go on the road to face the likes of Toledo, Temple and Ohio.

For more on the RedHawks upcoming season, check out our Miami football predictions article, If you want to see where we have every team finishing inside the conference, take a look at our 2011 MAC predictions.