Cote: Two great QBs equal huge hopes, but Dolphins, Canes face very different challenges | Opinion

Miami’s two big football teams, the Dolphins and Hurricanes — historical giants, but not lately — have set sail encouragingly on seasons that tease with the possibility of a tandem return to glory.

I don’t think these teams, together, have been this good, led by quarterbacks this good, in two decades and change. It was the 2000 NFL season when the Fins last won a playoff game. It was 2003 when the Canes last won a major bowl game and finished a college season ranked in the top 10.

Many oldies will recall the 1984 Sports Illustrated cover that featured Dolphins second-year rising star Dan Marino and UM’s star quarterback Bernie Kosar, calling them “A Pair Of Aces.” Kosar had just led the Canes to their first (of five) national championships. Marino, that season, would break NFL passing records and lead the Fins to what would be their last Super Bowl appearance.

It has a been a downslope since for both franchises. But now a newly enriched Tua Tagovailoa coming into his prime and Cam Ward across town among Heisman Trophy favorites give both Miami teams renewed hope.

Tagovailoa completed 23 of 37 passes for 338 yards Sunday, and his 80-yard scoring strike to Tyreek Hill sparked the comeback win. Ward in two games has completed 46 of 61 passes for 689 yards and six TDs.

Do not doubt it: These two difference-making QBs staying healthy and playing great are in a position, literally, to lift their teams to special seasons.

The difference:

The Hurricanes’ big challenge is broader.

The Dolphins’ is right here, right now.

UM, at 2-0 and up to No. 10 in the rankings led by an invigorating opening win at Florida, has a soft opponent this week in hosting Ball State on Saturday. Three more games that should find Miami favored will follow before coach Mario Cristobal’s season turns appreciably tougher.

Unless calamity common over the past 20 years befalls UM, the Canes should be 6-0 when they play at No. 19 Louisville and then host rival Florida State, staggered by an 0-2 start but a difficult opponent largely because of that.

The Hurricanes’ broad challenge is how they will handle suddenly huge expectations. Cristobal has been chasing through two disappointing seasons back in Miami; now suddenly he is the one being chased.

For the Dolphins the Litmus test is right now: Thursday night in prime time when they host the rival and nemesis Buffalo Bills on a short week after opening with Sunday’s 20-17 comeback win vs. Jacksonville.

Tom Brady left and then Bill Belichick did and New England’s dominance over the AFC East ended and now it was Miami’s turn ... right? Well...

Buffalo and Josh Allen laid claim and the Dolphins must find a way to beat this team, first, as a prerequisite to bigger dreams like ending that playoff-win drought or dare say finally reaching Super Bowl again.

Buffalo has beaten Miami in four straight games and 14 of the past 15. That isn’t dominance. That’s ownership.

Coach Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins must learn how to beat good opponents. Last season 10 of the Fins’ 11 wins came against team that finished with a losing record. And Buffalo is the good opponent Miami most must learn to beat.

The historical oddity is that the Dolphins owned the Bills once. Between 1967 and 1986 Miami was 34-4-1 against Buffalo. Don Shula had Marv Levy on a leash.

These Dolphins also must learn how to finish seasons strong, which is how you get a home playoff game and avoid playing in Kansas City in frostbite conditions. McDaniel’s first two seasons ended 1-6 in 2022 and 0-3 in ‘23, each late swoon costing Miami a home playoff game.

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. The proof that this time it’s different starts Thursday night.

“It’s probably the easiest flush that our team could have, you know?,” McDaniel said, meaning getting past the opening win and turning fast to what’s ahead. “Everybody’s very prepared about what they’re going to hear and expects to hear it, as they should. When you’re, I think 1-10 against somebody in your last 11 [It’s actually 1-14 in the last 15.] So they’ll enjoy [this win], but they’ll be rested and division games are always awesome and a lot of fun. I’m sure this one will be, as well.”

College schedules are not as relentless as in the NFL, but, for the Hurricanes, being 6-0 when flying to Louisville is no given. Did No. 5 Notre Dame not just lose in South Bend to Northern Illinois? But the expectations right now are that UM will be 6-0 at that point.

In fact UM is favored in nine of its remaining 10 games by win likelihoods ranging from 59.5 percent (at Cal) to 97.9 percent (this week vs. Ball State), via ESPN’s computerized Football Power Index. Only at Louisville might UM be an underdog, with an FPI win likelihood now at 43.3 percent.

The Hurricanes, today, are the betting favorite to win the ACC, and ESPN ranks the Canes fifth-most likely to reach the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. That is territory that suggests UM currently is seen as having a shot at its sixth national title and first since 2001.

That will play out slowly.

For the Dolphins it will happen fast, this Thursday night.

We all wonder if Miami will ever reach another Super Bowl, let alone win one for the first time since 1973. But that macro view must start somewhere.

For the Dolphins, its starts with beating Buffalo.