Oxford, Ohio ? Ben Roethlisberger let the defense take top billing.

Miami of Ohio’s swarming defense forced quarterback Josh Harris to fumble three times Tuesday night, setting up short drives and a 33-10 victory over No. 15 Bowling Green.

Roethlisberger threw for 230 yards and Cal Murray ran for a pair of touchdowns as Miami (8-1, 5-0 Mid-American Conference) took advantage of four turnovers.

The RedHawks have won eight straight since an opening blowout at Iowa, positioning themselves to move into the Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 1974 season.

“For us, that’s not important,” said Roethlisberger, who was 19-of-28 after a shaky start. “Coming in, our goal was not to be in the Top 25. Our goal was to win the MAC championship. This was a step forward for us.”

Playing with its highest ranking in school history, Bowling Green (7-2, 4-1) never got rolling on offense and couldn’t overcome mistakes by Harris.

“Miami of Ohio is on fire right now,” said Harris, who was 20-of-35 for 160 yards. “Because they’ve got a great quarterback, people stopped talking about their defense. They’ve got a great defense.”

The teams were facing their mirror image — Bowling Green tops the MAC in offense and defense, and Miami is a close second in both categories.

Roethlisberger made the two plays that made the difference. His 49-yard completion early in the third quarter set up one touchdown, and his one-yard sneak put Miami ahead 24-7 midway through the quarter. The 33 points were the most allowed by Bowling Green this season.

“We were in position to make plays, and we didn’t,” linebacker Mitch Hewitt said. “We didn’t get to the quarterback. We were missing tackles. We had penalties. It was a complete disaster.”

The defenses controlled a wacky first half — five turnovers, a missed field by Bowling Green and an unusual problem with the clock. During a timeout with only 26 seconds showing before halftime, the officials realized it was off by a minute — an electrical surge was blamed — and restored the time.

Harris threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to a diving Charles Sharon on the next play, cutting Miami’s lead to 10-7. The clock problem caused confusion, but didn’t figure in the outcome. Instead, it came down to which of the two prolific quarterbacks made the most mistakes.

Roethlisberger fumbled and threw an interception at the 1-yard line in the first half, then settled down.

Harris fumbled three times and was limited to throwing mostly short, harmless passes.

“It seemed at times like we were impostors out there,” Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon said.

Murray’s three-yard run put Miami ahead in the second quarter, and Janssen Patton fumbled the kickoff, setting up Jared Parseghian’s 27-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.