No. 12 Miami Hurricanes blow out FAMU, give backups playing time in home opener rout

The final score was all but expected, with the No. 12 Miami Hurricanes blowing out an overmatched Florida A&M team 56-9 on Saturday in UM’s home opener at Hard Rock Stadium.

Quarterback Cam Ward dazzled once again, throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns while running for a fourth. Running backs Mark Fletcher and Damien Martinez each found the end zone. The defense combined had 10 tackles for loss, five sacks (three by Tennessee transfer Tyler Baron), three interceptions and five pass breakups.

“We handled our business,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said.

But the benefits beyond the result that could extend over the course of the season are what the Hurricanes hope will pay dividends.

The by-product of a blowout against a team like FAMU: Cristobal took this as an opportunity to get as many younger players reps as he could.

Early in the second quarter, Cristobal was already putting his share of backups on defense into the game. On the final drive of the third quarter, with Miami up 46-9, all of the offensive starters were out of the game.

“There’s nothing like repetition — nothing,” Cristobal said. “There’s nothing that you can do in practice, nothing you can do in a meeting room or walkthough that can ever replace the value of that. The value of those reps are tremendous. That’s why we kept playing. I think both side respect that. They want their guys to get reps and we want our guys to get reps. And you saw a lot.”

And many of them took advantage of the opportunity presented to them.

Among the true freshmen...

▪ Defensive lineman Justin Scott, who recorded his first career sack.

▪ Running back Jordan Lyle, who turned 19 on Saturday, scored his first touchdown on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.

▪ Wide receivers Ny Car and Joshisa “JoJo” Trader each logged their first catches.

▪ True freshman defensive back Zaquan Patterson, who had two tackles and a pass breakup.

▪ Linebacker Cam Pruitt logged an interception and a pass breakup.

“It’s good that we just getting in there and just learning from guys in front of us and just getting the playbook and just doing the right stuff early,” Lyle said. “We’re just keeping our head down and just trying to get our game better.”

The chance for them to get that playing time came because the starters did what they were supposed to do.

The first handful of plays gave a pretty good idea how things were going to play out.

Three plays into the game, Hurricanes linebacker Wesley Bissainthe intercepted a pass from FAMU quarterback Daniel Richardson and set the Hurricanes up with a short field. Two plays after that, Ward found tight end Elijah Arroyo wide open in the middle of the field for a 17-yard touchdown.

That was just the beginning.

The Hurricanes jumped out to a 25-6 halftime lead and then scored touchdowns on each of their first three drives of the second half before giving the starters the rest of the night off.

In addition to the touchdown to Arroyo, Ward found senior wide receiver Xavier Restrepo for 50 yards and redshirt freshman Chris Johnson Jr. Miami added rushing touchdowns from Fletcher (4 yards), Martinez (33 yards) and Ward (8 yards) on their first three drives of the second half before sitting the starters for the rest of the game.

Ward became the first quarterback with 300 yards and three touchdowns in his first two Miami starts in program history after also throwing for 385 yards and three touchdowns in Miami’s season opener at the Florida Gators.

And for good measure, the backups on offense — led by Albany transfer quarterback Reese Poffenbarger — held their own as well, with Lyle’s touchdown capping the group’s first drive.

Among the other highlights on offense:

▪ Restrepo had four catches for 104 yards, his eighth 100-yard receiving game at UM. He now has 1,933 receiving yards in his Miami career, which is the 10th most in school history. He surpassed Andre Johnson and Allen Hurns on that list Saturday.

▪ Arroyo’s touchdown catch was the second of his UM career and first since Oct. 30, 2021.

▪ Martinez’s touchdown was his first at Miami since transferring from Oregon State this offseason.

“The only thing that matters really to us is if you get a win,” Ward said. “If you get a win, by all means, you had a good day. That’s the biggest thing. ... We’ve just got to cherish these moments and move on to the next moments.”