Cam Ward’s ‘continue to compete’ mentality on full display as Miami Hurricanes rout FAMU

The Miami Hurricanes were already well on their way to their eventual 56-9 drubbing of Florida A&M on Saturday night, and there was star quarterback Cam Ward, still doing anything and everything he could to make a play.

When Ward’s on the field, the score is irrelevant. If there’s a play to be made, it’s going to happen. That’s just his competitive nature. That’s just how he’s wired.

So on his final play from scrimmage, Ward took the snap, rolled to his left, found an open lane and hurdled over a slew of defenders for an 8-yard rushing touchdown.

The touchdown itself — Miami’s sixth of the game and Ward’s fourth personally Saturday after throwing for three — was all but moot when it came to the game’s outcome.

But Ward’s effort and desire to put in maximum effort at that stage of a blowout does epitomize one key element the Hurricanes hope to sustain throughout the course of the season.

“Continue to compete,” Ward said. “Every time I’m on the field, I believe I’m the best player on the field. That’s always gonna be my mindset. Every time I step between those lines, I’m gonna compete for my teammates, for the offense and for the defense. It’s really just the guys that I have around me. They make me want to be better. They make they make the team want to go. We’re a very motivated team. We’re a very connected team. That’s something that a lot of teams in the country don’t have. We just got to continue to keep going.”

Ward certainly kept going on Saturday. He built on a stellar Hurricanes debut against the Florida Gators by throwing for 304 yards on 20-for-26 passing with three first-half touchdowns and no interceptions in his home debut against FAMU. His touchdowns went for 17 yards to Elijah Arroyo on his first pass of the game, 50 yards to Xavier Restrepo to cap a seven-play, 99-yard drive and 9 yards to redshirt freshman running back Chris Johnson Jr.

“Cam’s a special player,” said Restrepo, who caught four passes for 104 yards and the touchdown and moved to 10th all-time in career receiving yards in Hurricanes history in the process. “We all have built really good relationship with Cam since the day he’s come in here and we’re still building. We’re not perfect yet. ... A lot of room for improvement, but since the day he’s come in here, every single last one of us, receivers, tight ends, running back, anybody who catches the ball has gotten closer and tighter with him.”

Ward became the first quarterback in Hurricanes history to have at least 300 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in each of his first two starts in program history. He threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns in the season-opening win at Florida.

“You can see what he brings to the table — and what is he not bringing to the table is kind of what the question is now,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “For us, the exciting part about a guy like that is you find ways to challenge him because there is so much more that is in him and that he wants to do for the team. He’s very hard on himself, but he is the alpha dog leader. I know I’ve stated that term ad nauseum just about but that’s what he is, man. It changes thing. Certain guys bring a spark and it catches with everybody. He’s that guy.”

And as for Cristobal’s thoughts on Ward’s running, leaping touchdown to cap his night before turning the final 18 minutes of game time to backup quarterback Reese Poffenbarger and the No. 2 offense?

“He’s not one of those ceramic quarterbacks. He doesn’t want to be,” Cristobal said. “He’s a flat-out baller. He wants to play ball. He wanted to come to Miami to win and win a championship and he wanted to improve himself as a player and he is doing all of those things. He has actively and with purpose, has identified those thing and is pursuing betterment in all those areas. That was one of them right there. ... Great game by him.”

And a great game all around by the Hurricanes, one that aided in Miami moving up two spots to No. 10 in the AP top 25 poll — the Hurricanes’ first time in the top-10 since late in the 2020 season.

They raced out to a 25-6 lead at halftime and were up 46-9 after Ward’s final touchdown before the reserves handled the rest of the game — and even they managed to score on two of their three full drives.

The defense logged 10 tackles for loss, five sacks, three interceptions and a pair of forced fumbles while limiting FAMU to 194 total yards of offense and an average of 3.7 yards per play.

All of this while getting a slew of reserves valuable playing time in a live game. Nearly all of Miami’s 2024 recruiting class — 22 of 26 scholarship true freshman in total — played on Saturday.

“We handled our business,” Cristobal said.

That will continue to be the message moving forward. The Hurricanes are 2-0. They have done what they have needed to do so far.

But the job isn’t done yet. Far from it. There are two more non-conference games — home on Saturday against Ball State and then a road game with USF that played the Alabama Crimson Tide tight for three quarters. Then there’s conference play. After that, Miami hopes, a matchup in the ACC Championship Game and then, eventually, a trip to the College Football Playoff.

Continue to handle business, continue to compete, and everything the Hurricanes want to achieve is there for the taking.

“That’s what coach Cristobal instills in us every day,” Ward said. “Every Saturday is a new opportunity to get better. We got better than what we did from last Saturday, and next Saturday, we have to get better what we did this Saturday. We only get one opportunity a week, and we have to lay it on the line for each other on both sides of the ball. That’s what we did today and we’ve got to continue to do that as we get to next week and the following games.”

Jalen Rivers update

Starting left tackle Jalen Rivers did not play on Saturday due to an unspecified injury, with Cristobal saying he’s “a little bit banged up.” Cristobal said he does not think the injury is “too serious” and that “he’ll be back really soon.”

Markell Bell started at left tackle in Rivers’ place.