The RedHawks finished the regular season 7-5 and 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference, and will face Western Michigan (8-4, 7-1) in the MAC title game, despite Ohio and Toledo also holding 6-2 conference records. Miami owns a tiebreaker between common opponents.
Gotkowski's long came on a 55-yard touchdown to Kam Perry. He was 12-of-24 passing for 226 yards, with 44 yards on the ground.
Jordan Brunson (54 rushing yards) and D'Shawntae Jones (47 rushing yards) both had rushing touchdowns, and led a RedHawks offense that combined for 234 rushing yards.
Kiael Kelly was 14 of 23 for 177 yards with a pair of passing touchdowns for the Cardinals (4-8, 3-5). He added a game-high 61 yards on 11 attempts.
The Cardinals allowed six sacks, and allowed a score on a fumble recovery return by Jermaine Agee with 2:11 left in the game. They entered the game with the second-most sacks allowed out of 136 teams in FBS football and finished with 49 allowed.
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