Hurricanes hope big win over UF is just the start. ‘We’re planning on 16 more’ games

The game had already been over for about 10 minutes on Saturday, but the Miami Hurricanes were going to soak this one in. They didn’t want to leave the field after their 41-17 thrashing of the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium — their first win in Gainesville since 2008. Their fans wanted to revel in the moment. Their fans did, too.

So the orange-and-green-clad crowd continued the party in the southeast corner of The Swamp for a little bit longer. And as the team finally departed down the tunnel, the fans gave one final message of affirmation.

“Mar-i-o! Mar-i-o!” they chanted to head coach Mario Cristobal, who threw up The U and riled up the crowd one final time.

“This is a big rivalry for us,” said Cristobal, in his third year coaching at his alma mater.

It was also a big win for the No. 19 Hurricanes (1-0). Cristobal had gotten off to a slow start to his UM coaching tenure, going just 12-13 in his first two seasons. Year 3 is a pivotal one, especially with a beefed up roster via the transfer portal and solid recruiting classes to go along with a, relatively speaking, easier schedule.

Cristobal and Miami needed a season-opening win like they got on Saturday, one in which basically everything went right on the road against an in-state rival — even if that in-state rival in Florida (0-1) is going through .

But as much as the Hurricanes will celebrate what they did on Saturday — winning a game in which Cristobal said the “animosity, hatred, bad blood” between the fan bases was “through the roof, off the charts” — they also have to keep their bigger goals in mind.

“This is just one game,” said safety Mishael “Meesh” Powell, who transferred to Miami from Washington this offseason, had an interception in the win and celebrated with an emphatic Gator Chomp. “We’re planning on 16 more.”

Playing 16 more games would have the Hurricanes competing for both the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a national title via the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. UM hasn’t won the ACC title since joining the conference in 2004. Their last national championship came in 2001.

Powell previously said during fall camp that he sees similarities between this Hurricanes team and the Washington team he played on last year that made it to the national title game only to fall to eventual champion Michigan.

He reiterated those thoughts postgame Saturday.

“This is why I came here,” Powell said. “Coach Cristobal, he’s played in big games, and I got to see going against him couple times [when Cristobal was head coach at Oregon] the type of team he wants to build and the places he wants to go to. That’s something I want to be a part of.”

The Hurricanes looked the part on Saturday.

They racked up 529 yards of total offense and averaged 7.67 yards per play.

Quarterback Cam Ward, who bypassed the NFL Draft to transfer to Miami for his final season of college football, lived up to the hype in his UM debut by completing 26 of 35 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. According to ESPN, the last Miami quarterback before Ward to throw at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in a season opener was Ken Dorsey in 2001 against Penn State. The Hurricanes won the national title that season.

He used his feet to extend plays and had plenty of time to make his reads thanks to an offensive line that neutralized Florida’s pass rush. He used pinpoint precision to make several highlight plays, perhaps none better than when he rolled to his left in the third quarter and fired a perfect strike to Jacolby George in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown to put Miami up 38-10.

“He’s ridiculous,’’ said wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, who caught seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown from Ward.

Miami’s Cam Ward said UF wasn’t loudest road game he played in — and gave advice to Gators fans

The defense thrived as well despite being without two of its starters in defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. and cornerback Damari Brown for essentially the entire game. Both left in the first quarter and are expected to miss one to two weeks. Even with those two out, the Hurricanes still limited the Gators to just 261 yards of offense, tallied eight tackles for loss and three sacks and held Florida to just one third-down conversion in nine tries.

“We sent the right message to whoever wanted to receive it,” said Hurricanes defensive lineman Tyler Baron, who had two tackles for loss and a sack on Saturday. “For us, it was just really proving to ourselves that we are who we say we are.”

The Hurricanes lived up to the task in Week 1. Now it’s a matter of sustaining it.

“Certainly, when playing an opponent at that caliber, when playing against the SEC at one of their stadiums and getting a convincing win like that is great,” Cristobal said, “but the most important thing we talked about in there was, for the first time in a long time, Miami has had a chance to play a big game to start the season, and now we’ve got to show we can handle the success and go get better. That’s really the most important thing. We’re in stages. But today was a really, really big step and just beyond proud of those guys and their resilience, toughness, and their work ethic. They did it all.”

Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes stake best-in-ACC claim with big 41-17 rout at Florida | Opinion