Breaking down the Miami Hurricanes’ historic shutout of Ball State by the numbers

The No. 10 Miami Hurricanes were expected to win big over the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday.

Dominate? Sure. They were six-touchdown favorites.

But an effort like this? Not necessarily.

The Hurricanes’ blew out the Cardinals 62-0 at Hard Rock Stadium in a game that started almost two-and-a-half hours after its originally scheduled kickoff due to multiple lightning delays.

Miami (3-0) broke multiple team records and saw more historic performances that have been prevalent through the early portion of the schedule.

Let’s break it all down.

Team records

▪ The Hurricanes’ 62-point shutout victory was the largest against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in program history. The previous school record was a 61-0 blanking of Rutgers on Sept. 8, 2001. It was the first of three shutouts that season, with the others being 38-0 over Temple on Nov. 3 and 59-0 over Syracuse on Nov. 17 en route to a perfect 12-0 record and the Hurricanes’ most recent national championship.

Since that season, Miami has posted four total shutouts against FBS teams: 33-0 over Georgia Tech on Nov. 6, 2021; 48-0 at Duke on Dec. 5, 2020; 35-0 over FIU on Oct. 14, 2006; and 48-0 over Louisiana Tech on Sept. 18, 2004.

▪ The Hurricanes’ 750 yards of total offense (507 passing, 243 rushing) is also a single-game program record. Their previous best mark against an FBS opponent was 689 on Dec. 5, 1998, in a 49-45 win over UCLA.

Meanwhile, Miami’s 507 team passing yards are the second-most in a game in school history, trailing only their 44-37 win over NC State on Sept. 29, 2012, when Stephen Morris set the school-record (and, at the time, ACC-record) with 566 passing yards.

▪ Through three games, the Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 159-26 — the other games were a 41-17 win over the Florida Gators and 56-9 win over the Florida A&M Rattlers. The 159 points are the most by a UM team through its first three games of a season.

Cam Ward stats

▪ 346: Quarterback Cam Ward finished Saturday’s win completing 19 of 28 passes for 346 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.

Since the Hurricanes joined the ACC ahead of the 2004 campaign, Ward is the first ACC player with at least 300 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in each of his first three games of a season.

Ward is also the first Miami quarterback to begin a season with three consecutive 300-yard performances.

▪ 1,035: Ward has completed 73 percent of his passes (65 for 89) for 1,035 yards and 11 touchdowns against just one interception through the first three games of the season.

His 1,035 passing yards are the second-most in UM history through three games, according to the Associated Press, trailing only Craig Erickson’s 1,126 passing yards through three games in 1990.

▪ 5: Ward’s five-touchdown performance marked the 10th time in Hurricanes history a player threw for at least five touchdowns. Jarren Williams has the single-game school record with six touchdown passes, done on Nov. 9, 2019, in a 52-27 win against Louisville.

The other eight five-touchdown instances: Tyler Van Dyke on Sept. 9, 2023, at Texas A&M; D’Eriq King on Nov. 6, 2020, at NC State; Morris in that NC State game on Sept. 29, 2012; Kyle Wright on Nov. 12, 2005, at Wake Forest; Brock Berlin on Oct. 23, 2004, at NC State; Ken Dorsey on Nov. 25, 2000, against Boston College; Steve Walsh on Oct. 22, 1988, against Cincinnati; and Bernie Kosar on Oct. 13, 1984, at Cincinnati.

More offensive stats

▪ 297: Of the Hurricanes’ 507 passing yards on Saturday, 297 — 58.6 percent — were yards after the catch. Jacolby George and Chris Johnson tied for the team lead with 67 yards after catch.

▪ 12: Hurricanes quarterbacks completed passes to a dozen receivers on Saturday. That’s par for the course so far this season, with 15 total receivers having caught passes already this season.

What is more impressive is how dynamic the group was. Nine of the 12 receivers caught at least one pass that went for at least 20 yards.

▪ 2: Of Miami’s 71 plays run, only two went for negative yardage.

Defense highlights

▪ 115: The Hurricanes held Ball State to just 115 total yards of offense, including holding the Cardinals to just 6 total rushing yards and 25 total yards in the second half. It’s the fewest yards allowed by a Miami team since Sept. 8, 2018, against FCS Savannah State.

▪ 3: Combined sacks from defensive linemen Simeon Barrow, Elijah Alston and Tyler Baron, all three of whom transferred to Miami ahead of the season.

▪ Sept. 27, 2018: In addition to a sack on Saturday, Alston also recorded an interception. He is the first Hurricanes defensive lineman to have both a sack and an interception in the same game since Joe Jackson on Sept. 27, 2018, against North Carolina.