When talking about most upcoming football games, especially rivalry games, it's the players who are the most worked up and the coaches trying to keep it business as usual.
The roles were a little reversed in Oxford this week.
Miami was preparing to try regaining possession of the Victory Bell from Cincinnati for the first time since 2005, but RedHawks' fifth-year senior quarterback Gus Ragland was working on helping his teammates maintain their focus.
Then there was Miami coach Chuck Martin, who's usual off-the-charts level of excitement about coaching any football game seemed to be amped up a couple of notches. He ticked off the reasons.
Miami is coming off a 35-28 season-opening loss at home to Marshall in which the RedHawks fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and never could catch up. The Bearcats created a major college football ripple by traveling west to the storied Rose Bowl in Pasadena and upsetting the heavily favored Bruins, 26-17.
Running back Michael Warren II gained 142 yards and scored three touchdowns for Cincinnati. Redshirt freshman Desmond Ridder came off the bench in relief of senior quarterback Hayden Moore and threw for a workmanlike 100 yards. He didn't throw for a touchdown, but he also didn't throw an interception.
A win by the RedHawks might help them generate some early-season momentum, a commodity rare in Oxford for almost a decade. The last time Miami beat a Football Bowl Subdivision team in either of the first two games of a season was in 2010, when the RedHawks edged Eastern Michigan 28-21 in Game Two. They followed up with a 31-10 win over Colorado State on the way to finishing 10-4 overall and 7-1 in the MAC, capping the season with a 26-21 win over Northern Illinois in the conference championship game and 35-21 win over Middle Tennessee State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Lance Guidry coached Miami in the bowl game after Michael Haywood left for the University of Pittsburgh job.
None of that was on Martin's mind. He was revved up about Miami playing Cincinnati at an NFL stadium.