Ohio
Miami Ohio vs Western Michigan live updates: Start time, TV for MAC championship
College football Power Four title picks and top Group of Five contender
Before the Snap looks at who’s poised to win the Power Four leagues and which Group of Five program could emerge as the top contender.
It’s hard to beat the same college football team twice in a single season.
That’s what Miami (Ohio) will have to contend with when it faces off against Western Michigan on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Ford Field in Detroit in the MAC championship game.
Watch the MAC championship game on Fubo (free trial)
The RedHawks (7-5, 6-2 MAC) earned a 26-17 win over the Broncos (8-4, 7-1) on Oct. 25. Interestingly, both teams started the season 0-3, but recovered during conference play to get themselves into the conference championship game.
With one conference loss, Western Michigan won the regular-season MAC title. However, the road for Miami was a little more complicated, as it finished tied with Toledo and Ohio with two losses apiece. The RedHawks earned the spot in the championship game, despite regular-season losses to both.
Miami’s 49-25 win over Ball State served as the three-way tiebreaker, as the RedHawks had a better win percentage than Ohio and Toledo vs. all common opponents.
USA TODAY is bringing you live updates, scores and highlights from the game. Follow along:
Miami vs Western Michigan score
| TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | FINAL |
| Miami (Ohio) | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― |
| W Michigan | ― | ― | ― | ― | ― |
Miami vs Western Michigan live updates
This section will be updated.
Western Michigan has won four MAC titles in program history (1966, 1976, 1988 and 2016). Miami has won 17 while a member of the MAC, and has 25 conference championships in school history.
Here’s a look at Miami (Ohio) players walking into Detroit Field:
What time does Miami vs Western Michigan start?
- Date: Saturday, Dec. 6
- Time: Noon ET
- Where: Ford Field (Detroit)
Miami vs Western Michigan will kick off at noon ET on Saturday, Dec. 6 from Ford Field in Detroit.
What TV channel is Miami vs Western Michigan on today?
The MAC championship game between Miami and Western Michigan will be broadcast on ESPN. Streaming options for the game include Fubo, which carries ESPN and offers a free trial to new subscribers.
Miami vs Western Michigan predictions
- Ehsan Kassim, USA TODAY Sports: Western Michigan 20, Miami 17
Western Michigan avenges its lone regular-season conference loss with a win over Miami to win its first MAC title since 2016. The Broncos’ defense will smother the RedHawks in a defensive battle, scoring a touchdown on a fumble return in the first half.
- Austin Curtright, USA TODAY Sports: Western Michigan 23, Miami 20
Western Michigan’s lone conference loss this season came against Miami. However, it’s hard to beat a team twice in the same season and the Broncos have won four consecutive games since falling to the RedHawks in late October. It should be a close game, but Western Michigan gets revenge for its first MAC title since 2016.
- John Leuzzi, USA TODAY Sports: Miami 24, Western Michigan 21
Defense wins championships, and that is what this game is going to come down to. Both defenses rank in the top four of the MAC in sacks, with Miami leading Western Michigan 38-14 in the category. Whichever defense can get a few stops (or takeaways) in the fourth quarter will win this one.
Miami football schedule 2025
Here’s a look at Miami’s schedule in 2025, including past scores.
- Thursday, Aug. 28: Wisconsin 17, Miami 0
- Saturday, Sept. 6: Rutgers 45, Miami 17
- Saturday, Sept. 13: BYE
- Saturday, Sept. 20: UNLV 41, Miami 38
- Saturday, Sept. 27: Miami 38, Lindenwood 0
- Saturday, Oct. 4: Miami 25, Northern Illinois 14 *
- Saturday, Oct. 11: Miami 20, Akron 7 *
- Saturday, Oct. 18: Miami 44, Eastern Michigan 30 *
- Saturday, Oct. 25: Miami 26, Western Michigan 17 *
- Saturday, Nov. 1: BYE
- Tuesday, Nov. 4: Ohio 24, Miami 20 *
- Wednesday, Nov. 12: Toledo 24, Miami 3 *
- Wednesday, Nov. 19: Miami 37, Buffalo 20 *
- Saturday, Nov. 29: Miami 45, Ball State 24 *
- Saturday, Dec. 6: Miami vs Western Michigan | ESPN, Noon ET **
* – denotes MAC game
** – denotes MAC championship game
Western Michigan football schedule 2025
Here’s a look at Western Michigan’s schedule in 2025, including past scores.
- Friday, Aug. 29: Michigan State 23, Western Michigan 6
- Saturday, Sept. 6: North Texas 33, Western Michigan 30 (OT)
- Saturday, Sept. 13: Illinois 38, Western Michigan 0
- Saturday, Sept. 20: Western Michigan 14, Toledo 13 *
- Saturday, Sept. 27: Western Michigan 47, Rhode Island 14
- Saturday, Oct. 4: Western Michigan 21, Massachusetts 3 *
- Saturday, Oct. 11: Western Michigan 42, Ball State 0 *
- Saturday, Oct. 18: BYE
- Saturday, Oct. 25: Miami 26, Western Michigan 17 *
- Saturday, Nov. 1: Western Michigan 24, Central Michigan 21 *
- Saturday, Nov. 8: BYE
- Tuesday, Nov. 11: Western Michigan 17, Ohio 13 *
- Tuesday, Nov. 18: Western Michigan 35, Northern Illinois 19 *
- Tuesday, Nov. 25: Western Michigan 31, Eastern Michigan 21 *
- Saturday, Dec. 6: Miami vs Western Michigan | ESPN, Noon ET **
* – denotes MAC game
** – denotes MAC championship game
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
Have a question for Just Askin’? Email us.
The Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, except maybe Google.
Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to us at justaskin@enquirer.com, ideally with Just Askin’ in the subject line.
It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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