OXFORD, Ohio - Charleston Southern led for the majority of the game, but big plays late for Miami proved the difference as the RedHawks beat CSU 38-27, Saturday at Yager Stadium. Miami earned their first victory of the season after an 0-2 start, while CSU falls to 0-3, having played two FBS teams (Miami Hurricanes and Miami RedHawks) and a nationally-ranked FCS team in Wofford.

After their initial touchdown 7:51 into the game, CSU led the entire first half, and held the lead for a total of 40:05 throughout the game, but was behind when the clock struck 0:00 as they fell to their second FBS team of the season.

"I thought we had a good game plan in all three phases of the game," said Coach Jay Mills. "We knew it would take our best effort for all four quarters if we were going to be successful in this game. We know we have a very good football team, despite our 0-3 record. Miami has a good team as well, and you can see why they were picked to win the MAC going into the season."

Gerald Stevenson finished the game with six rushes for 37 yards, also grabbing four receptions for an additional 41 yards. Antwan Ivey continued to get the bulk of the carries in the backfield with nine for 23 yards. Tribble Reese finished 26-39 with four touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions and a late fumble. He topped 250 yards through the air for the second-straight game, though, with 257 yards, hitting nine different receivers. Markus Murry just missed his first 100-yard game of his senior year as he hauled in a team-high six catches for 91 yards.

Andrew McKain had his best game as a Buccaneer, leading the way with eight tackles, including five solo stops. Chris Kuzdale also had five solo stops, as well as a forced fumble that he also recovered.

Daniel Raudabaugh ran the offense for Miami, completing 19 of his 30 pass attempts with one touchdown and one interception. Raudabaugh finished the game with 305 yards through the air, with Armand Robinson leading the way with 79 yards.

"I am very proud of the effort of this team, in all three phases," continued Mills. "They played very hard and I am very optimistic about the future."

The Bucs tried to grab the momentum early with a successful on-side kick to start the game, but a three-and-out gave the ball over to the RedHawks. The defense kept the momentum on the side of the blue and gold as they forced a three-and-out of their own to give CSU the ball with good field position.

"A play like that is a calculated risk, and we were honestly just trying to steal an extra possession," said Mills. "We have a lot of respect for Raudabaugh and the Miami offense, so we felt like we could use that extra set of downs."

This time, CSU knew what to do with it as they strung together an 11-play, 64-yard drive for the game's opening score. The drive was helped by a personal-foul penalty that set up a first and goal. After two running plays, Reese found his tight end Clayton Coffman wide open in the corner of the endzone for the opening score, just under eight minutes into the game.

Inside the red zone for the first time, the Miami drive stalled when Kuzdale came through the gap to force the ball out of the hands of Rogers with Kuzdale recovering the fumble.

A long third down conversion to Kwame Krakue for 24 yards kept the drive along, stretching it into the second quarter. It came down to another third-down conversion, the fifth of the game for CSU. For the fourth time, CSU was able to convert, as Reese found Stevenson cutting across the middle of the endzone for the touchdown putting CSU up 13-0 after the PAT attempt failed. It was Stevenson's first touchdown reception of his young CSU career.

A 49-yard pass to Dustin Wood set up the answer for Miami, and a four-yard touchdown run by Merriweather finished the job as they took just 1:29 off the clock in cutting the lead to 13-7.

A dropped touchdown pass by Eugene Harris forced a 22-yard field goal by Nathan Parseghian to make it 13-10 with 6:18 to go in the first half.

With time winding down in the first half, Miami tried to put together one last scoring drive. The CSU defense stiffened inside the red zone, as three incomplete passes led to a game-tying 36-yard field goal attempt by Parseghian. Despite the wind being at his back, the kick sailed left, assuring that CSU would have the 13-10 lead at the break.

It wouldn't take long in the second half for Miami to take their first lead of the game as defensive lineman Joe Coniglio tipped a Reese pass, reeling it in for the interception, and returning it down to the one yardline. From there, Merriweather punched it in to put Miami up 17-13 less than a minute into the third quarter.

CSU put together an 80-yard answer as they continued to methodically move down the field in 3:18. The seven play drive resulted in an 11-yard touchdown pass to Stevenson, his second of the game.

The second Miami fumble of the game bounced into the arms of Okeba Rollinson to give CSU another possession.

An 11-yard touchdown pass to Coffman finished off the six-play, 64-yard drive giving CSU the 27-17 lead midway through the third quarter.

Jake Richardson's punt backed CSU up inside their own two yardline, and the Buccaneer offense was unable to get the ball out, forced to punt it away. In a difficult situation, freshman Andy Brown got off a solid 40-yard punt, but Harris picked it up on one bounce and returned it in for the touchdown, cutting it to 27-24. CSU would hold the lead, however, going into the final quarter of play.

Jacques Bazile got his first interception of the season for CSU in the fourth, looking give CSU a cushion late in the game. As the offense tried to capitalize for the third time off a Miami turnover, Reese's pass intended for Murry was picked off at the goal line by Ben Bennett and returned 78 yards. That setup the go-ahead score for the RedHawks, as they scored to make it 31-27 on a Armand Robinson 18-yard touchdown reception.

On third-and-six reception that looked to be stopped at the line of scrimmage, Robinson broke the hearts of CSU faithful as he broke free for a 50-yard run to set up a touchdown, making it 38-27 with just 4:22 remaining.

The Bucs will have a bye week after finishing a tough three-game stretch to start the season, before playing North Greenville on Sept. 27 for the first home game of the season at Buccaneer Field. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.