No. 19 Hurricanes rout Gators on road to begin critical Year 3 under Mario Cristobal

Just about everything went right for the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday during a start to the college football season where things have not gone right for other top teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Cam Ward threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns, Mark Fletcher added two scores on the ground, the defense held its own despite one of its top players exiting the game early with injury, and the No. 19 Hurricanes made quick work of the Florida Gators with a 41-17 season-opening win at Gainesville’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to kick off a critical Year 3 under Mario Cristobal.

“Nobody really likes to talk about the starting point,” Cristobal said. “I knew when I got to Miami there was a lot of work to do, and these guys have been through a lot, and they made the decision that it was enough, they’ve had enough, and they were going to prove that by the way they played the game.”

The win followed yet another offseason of optimism and expectations — Miami loaded up its roster in the transfer portal and was projected to finish third in the conference. This time, the team hopes, they can turn those expectations into actual results.

There’s still a long season to go, but Saturday was a needed first step.

“We’re only going to enjoy it for a short amount of time,” Ward said. “That’s the biggest thing. We’ve gotta be able to handle success and really just be able to focus on the next thing.”

Perhaps the only concern following Saturday’s win was the status of reigning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year Rueben Bain Jr., who left the game in the first quarter and didn’t return — although Cristobal said both Bain and defensive back Damari Brown will likely only be out one or two weeks.

Even in Bain’s absence, the Hurricanes managed to keep consistent pressure at the line of scrimmage, sack UF quarterback Graham Mertz three times and hold Florida to 261 yards — 71 of which came on Montrell Johnson’s touchdown run late in the second quarter. Mertz did not play in the fourth quarter due to injury.

And, for good measure, Mishael “Meesh” Powell, a senior safety who transferred in from Washington, intercepted a pass late in the third quarter and returned it returned it 67 yards to the UF 28 yard line to halt an 11-play UF drive.

He celebrated by doing the Gator Chomp.

“I should have done the Canes [’U’ signal with his hands],” Powell said with a laugh.

Jaden Harris also recorded an interception in the fourth quarter. By this point, most of the announced crowd of 90,544 had already headed for the exits.

The offense did the rest, scoring on six of its first eight drives to take a lead and never look back. After Florida cut Miami’s lead to 17-10 with 3:21 left in the first half, the Hurricanes scored 21 unanswered points to take a commanding 38-10 lead with 6:08 left in the third quarter.

UF got back within three touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run by Treyaun Webb, but Andres Borregales hit a 25-yard field goal (his second make of the game) on the ensuing drive to cap scoring.

“Thought our guys came out right away and created momentum,” Cristobal said. “When it seemed like Florida was going to get some of it back, the response was awesome.”

Ward, the ACC Preseason Player of the Year who transferred to UM from Washington State this offseason, threw touchdowns of 9 yards to Cam McCormick, 24 yards to Xavier Restrepo and 23 yards to Jacolby George. His only glaring mistake was an interception on Miami’s second drive when he overthrew his receiver with an across-the-body throw while rolling to his left.

Fletcher, who spent all offseason rehabbing a Lisfranc injury he sustained in the Pinstripe Bowl to close the 2023 season, ran for touchdowns of 10 yards in the second quarter and 1 yard in the third quarter. Damien Martinez, the Oregon State transfer, led Miami with 65 rushing yards on 15 carries.

And Restrepo recorded his seventh career 100-yard receiving game with seven catches for 112 yards. Ward completed passes to 10 players.

“A lot of special guys making a lot of special plays,” Cristobal said.

All together, it gives Miami a very early inside lane at the top of the ACC. Preseason No. 10 Florida State lost its season opener to Georgia Tech last week in Dublin, Ireland. Preseason No. 14 Clemson was drubbed 34-3 by No. 1 Georgia. And Virginia Tech, a dark horse in the conference, lost 34-27 in overtime to Vanderbilt.

Now the question becomes: Will it continue? The rest of Miami’s non-conference schedule is home games against FAMU on Sept. 7 and Ball State on Sept. 14 plus a road game at USF on Sept. 21 before hosting Virginia Tech on Sept. 27 to start conference play.

Asked if an in-state rivalry game to begin the season could propel the team through the season, Cristobal responded, “As long as you keep winning.”

“Don’t go and mess it up the following week,” Cristobal said. “It’s all about the University of Miami. We’ve been working our butts off. Everybody has, and this was the players, all the people, all the coaches that work their butts off to make it happen.”