Miami rolled into The Swamp on Saturday afternoon and beat the brakes off of Florida in precisely the best-case scenario type of game Hurricanes fans have dreamt of since this match-up was announced.
529 total yards, while holding the Gators to a paltry 261—the Canes dominating in the trenches, while transfer quarterback Cam Ward surgically and calmly picked apart Florida’s supposedly-improved defense—Miami jumping out to the early lead and never letting up en route to a 41-17 throttling that wasn’t even as close as the final score.
Of course a win like this will have the media starting hyping “The U” being back—which won’t be the case until the Hurricanes win a sixth national championship ring—but it’s a good sign when Miami is running trick plays late third quarter to pour it on; a pass from receiver Xavier Restrepo just missing Sam Brown reeling it in in a then 38-17 ball game, as Mario Cristobal and staff looked to put a boot on a rival’s neck.
Moments before that pass, it was the Canes’ defense putting their final stamp on things when defensive end Tyler Baron smashed quarterback Graham Mertz, knocking him out of the game—safety Mishael Powell snagging the pass near the goal line, returning it for 67 yards before the Restrepo pass was called.
Bonus points as Miami even notched the first-ever interception of freshman-sensation quarterback DJ Lag-well; defensive back Jaden Harris picking off the pass while on the ground
Further proof that when it’s your day, it’s your day—Miami creating their luck through preparation-meeting-opportunity; sending a message to all of college football—do believe the hype, as this Hurricanes’ roster is for real.
TURNING A BIG CORNER YEAR THREE
Miami faithful—and fans of the sport in general—had reason not to believe as it’d been a lean couple of decades for the Hurricanes—a low-rent program run by a liberal president who saw athletics as a necessary evil, while doing zero to fundraise and support a once-great football program.
ItsAUThing.com touched on this in the preseason with a wake-up-call type piece, breaking down the how and why things got so off track since the turn of the century—while explaining why it was finally time to believe in where Cristobal and this program are entering year three of his tenure.
A dismal 2021 season changed everything for this program and by late November behind-the-scenes moves were being made to bring Cristobal home; Hurricanes football ready for a seat at college football’s big boy table—a 10-year, $80,000,000 payday to bring the native son home—and the former Canes’ offensive lineman only signing on for the gig when his alma mater sold him on their vision and commitment to building a winner.
Without this detailed, long-term plan, Cristobal would’ve returned for a fifth season at Oregon, where he’d amassed a 35-12 record, two double-digit win seasons, a Rose Bowl victory and two Pac-12 titles over the previous four seasons.
The Ducks were a rising national power under Cristobal, who not only had the backing of the university; he essentially had a blank checkbook from Nike founder and Oregon booster Phil Knight—the program loaded with talent and in stellar shape.
It’s no mystery why first-time head coach Dan Lanning went 22-5 his first two seasons in Eugene with what Cristobal handed over—while heading back to Coral Gables to clean up the dumpster fire left behind by Manny Diaz, going 12-13 since 2022 as Miami was completely in the toilet culture-wise, which we touched on in a “c-word” related piece last week.
Miami’s top brass assured Cristobal he’d have a huge stack of chips and a seat at the high-stakes table representing “The U”, so he went all-in on the recruiting trail—bringing in the seventh-ranked class in 2023, fourth-ranked in 2024 and sky’s the limit for 2025 and beyond if this throttling of Florida is a sign of things to come.
MASTERFUL RECRUITING MEETS NIL DOMINANCE
Traditional recruiting aside, Cristobal has proved masterful in the NIL world—reeling in some big fish the past two seasons, but none bigger than the acquisition of Ward in mid-January, two weeks after months of waiting and the former Washington State announcing on New Year’s Day that he was forgoing a final year in college, taking his talents to the NFL.
The ripple effect from that moment opened the floodgates for Miami—some huge last-minute gets recruiting-wise, as well as some monster-sized portal pulls and immediate-impact players that are setting up an all-in, successful 2024 season.
Miami saw tailbacks Don Chaney and Henry Parrish bailing out on bowl season and heading for the portal early last December—leaving workhorse freshman Mark Fletcher to carry the depleted roster load in the Bronx against Rutgers—where a foot injury cast a shadow of doubt around his sophomore campaign.
Cristobal and staff won the Damien Martinez sweepstakes, pulling in the former Oregon State running back—the former Beavers back doing some tough early, tone-setting running in Gainesville, which took the pressure off of Fletcher, allowing him to ease his way into the rotation where he wound up with two big touchdowns against the Gators.
Miami lost reliable center Matt Lee to the NFL as well; Cristobal turning to Zach Carpenter and bringing in the former Indiana center south, fully aware how important it would be for Ward to have a veteran in the middle and snapping him the ball.
Depth, size and strength in the trenches; Cristobal was maniacal about taking what he learned in four years under Nick Saban in Alabama and applying it to how he’d rebuild Miami from the ground on up—a power running game behind a monster offensive line, tough receivers who also aren’t afraid to get dirty as blockers and a deep defensive line that could be rotated out and fresh all day, while wearing down the opposition’s offense.
Miami’s defensive line was so on point Saturday that the early first quarter loss of defensive tackle Reuben Bain—last year’s ACC Defensive Player Of The Year—literally had zero impact on the Canes’ ability to overwhelm the Gators’ sputtering offense.
The first rule of playing in front of 90,000+ opposing fans; find a way to demoralize them and to shut them up fast—which Miami defense did by way of limiting the Gators to a four-play, 13-yard opening drive—followed by a an 11-play, 84-yard offensive drive of their own, capped off by a nine-yard Cam McCormick touchdown pass on a great play call; Florida baited into thinking the run-blocking tight end was in the game to do just that, before peeling off and wide open for the catch and score.
Florida snatched some momentum their ensuing defensive possession when Ward tried a cross-body pass that sailed and was picked off by Shemar James on the Miami 33-yard line, but the Canes’ defense didn’t flinch—holding the Gators to ten yards on six plays, forcing a field goal.
Miami responded with a field goal, stuffed Florida again and on the next drive saw Ward hooking up with Isaiah Horton for 30 yards, followed by a 10-yard touchdown run by Fletcher.
Montrell Johnson briefly brought The Swamp to life with a 71-yard scamper to pay-dirt, cutting Miami’s lead to 17-10—but the Canes’ answered the bell with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive—capped off by Restrepo splitting two defenders and Ward hitting him in stride as he darted into the end zone for a 24-10 half time lead.
Florida could’ve taken the power back by stopping Miami on the opening possession of the third quarter, but the Canes again rose to the challenge—a 40-yard hook-up between Ward and Restrepo on 3rd-and-4 and a 22-yard dump-off to Fletcher, putting the running back in position to go over-the-top, punching it in for the 31-10 lead two plays later.
Another defensive stop; another Miami drive—86 yards on nine plays, including a 3rd-and-10 demoralizing 27-yard connection between Ward and Horton, as well as the back-breaking 23-yard touchdown strike to a new and improved Jacolby George, pushing the lead to 38-10 and sending many Gators fans heading for the exits halfway through the third.
This heated rivalry is chock full of these kinds of game-sealing moments and this was another for the history books.
EARLY-SEASON STATEMENT MOMENTS SET TONE
Back in 2002, Miami was up 27-16 late third quarter as Rex Grossman drove Florida into scoring position—dropping back and throwing towards the same end zone when Maurice Sikes snatched that pass out of the Gainesville night sky, returning it 97 yards and turning a gap-narrowing touchdown for the Gators into a 34-16 lead for the Hurricanes, who went on to win 41-16.
Facing a big-time 3rd-and-11, Ward dropped back, rolled left, shook off a one-hand tackle and again launched it cross-body—finding George in the back of the end zone, between two defenders—DJ Douglas and Jason Marshall both wrecked and shell-shocked; a lasting image of of Douglas halfway wedged in the end zone shrubs, while George, Horton, Restrepo and others mocked the Gator chomp and celebrated in front of dozens of Florida recruits, mocking the hometown team in their house.
Talk about a lasting snapshot of this showdown, as well as a tale of two programs who appear headed in completely different directions.
Same to be said for Mertz writhing in pain on the turf minutes later after Baron ended his day with that jarring hit, as Powell picked off a heady quarterback who only coughed up three interceptions in a brutal seven-loss season for Florida last fall.
Florida managed one final stat-padding score with Lagway slinging it around in an out-of-reach game, but Miami answered with a 26-yard field goal from Andres Borregales—the kicker atoning for miss on the previous possession—and with that, 41-17 was in the books; a dream scenario for the Hurricanes, while the Gators’ newest nightmare is just getting started as their season is pretty much over before September even arrived.
Insult to injury for Florida and a happy accident for Miami; the Hurricanes post-game celebrating taking place by their locker room tunnel and feet away from where the Gators had a sea of recruits and commits with front-row seats to UM’s afterparty—Miami players celebrating with fans, while gloating and telling the high school starts in attendance to pledge their allegiance to “The U”, while mocking the current state of Florida football.
Video footage of the back and forth, as well as freshman defensive lineman Justin Scott dapping up and laughing with current LSU commit DJ Pickett—all over social media for the past few hours, no to mention the interesting twist as the 5-Star cornerback remains high on the Canes, which got more interesting after LSU fell to Southern Cal in their season opener Sunday night.
The Gators paid for hotel, airfare, meals and nightlife—not to mention a ringside seat to this debacle—only to get embarrassed on and off the field by the Canes; a nightmare recruiting situation that made an already bad situation that much worse.
DELUSIONAL GATORS BUYING FOOLS GOLD
Billy Napier was already on the chopping block; 11-14 after two seasons—including a 9-4 run at The Swamp, where seven of those wins came against scrubs. This was a do-or-die season for Napier, resulting in a lot of off-season selling from the third-year coach about the type of team he expected to field this fall—which in itself helps explain the delusion, denial and desperation of a Florida fan base clinging to any modicum of hope and positivity since winning five games and missing the postseason last fall.
Napier attempted to address his team’s dismal defensive effort in 2023 by punting on co-defensive coordinator Sean Spencer, bringing in Ron Roberts to work with Austin Armstrong this fall.
This personnel change—and some portal action—was enough to convince Gators fans, vloggers and former players that the Canes were going down and an 8-4 type season was doable; Florida faithful cocksure they’d beat up on Miami and could get this thing rolling for the first half of the season, before the back-end of the schedule bit them in the ass—closing with Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State.
One beatdown by Miami later, these unhinged super-fans are scared Florida will struggle with Samford and are going to hit the Vegas under on four seasons wins—still processing Ward putting on a clinic as the Canes handed the Gators their first home season-opening loss in 35 years, as well as their worst-ever home opener loss in history.
Offensively, a belief that another year of game-manager Mertz distributing the ball to Wilson and other playmakers, as well as a healthy Johnson at running back—Gators Nation was high on their own supply—each next talking head less-informed about this current Hurricanes roster and Ward’s abilities than the next.
It’s one thing for the ill-informed YouTube narcissist to talk out of their ass, but to hear former Gators wide receiver Chris Doering going all fan-boy, calling for a 5-0 start, while predicting that Florida would go 3-0 against state rivals Miami, Florida State and Central Florida … it really shows you just how off the rails and delusional the entire Gators base is as the Napier era crashes and burns.
Knocking overzealous Gators isn’t so much the point—as is pointing out the fact that so many people supporting this Florida program were not only light years off regarding the state of their program, but also proved clueless as to The State of Miami—what the Canes have under center in Ward and the overall talent (and energy) the 305 was bringing to the 352 in regards to game plan and overall attitude.
To be that off-the-mark; the Gators have a bigger problems than just the team their fielding and current state of their program—and for a fan base accusing the Canes of living in the last; seems like a big contingent of that crew still thinks it’s 2008 in Gainesville.
FINALLY A REASON TO BELIEVE
Weeks back we wrote about why it’s finally time to drop the believe-it-when-we-see-it approach to Miami football; highlighting the financial investment the past three years and now NIL and the transfer portal were tailor-made for Cristobal’s rebuild—and we followed it up with a deep dive into the importance of “culture”, and the type of roster being assembled through new, on-brand additions—while getting rid of dozen of wrong-fit guys who weren’t on board with new-look, old school Miami.
The final piece of the recent trilogy; an all-in explanation regarding Ward being that dude—a total program-changer that would make for a special season at Miami, as this program is only as good as its quarterback and the Canes haven’t had a real one in decades.
We shared that “Ward’s moxie will be the x-factor” to this season, while stating he’d be the “difference maker” as the Canes “tamed The Swamp on Saturday afternoon”—followed by a 30-20 prediction in Miami’s favor.
Cristobal, assistant coaches and teammates have raved about Ward’s “it factor” all offseason; an old-school alpha dog who makes everybody around him better; which was on full display as the Canes kicked the Gators ass in Week One as everybody on that roster upper their game and energy.
This wasn’t just a victory for Miami; it was a statement—this is a special football team and all the off-season chatter was real—the Canes with a roster that would be ready to compete in year three.
That’s not to say Miami is on the level with Georgia, but the Canes are certainly part of the conversation regarding other contenders as this new seasons is upon us—and when looking at Clemson, Virginia Tech and Florida State laying eggs in their openers—Miami certainly looks like the best in conference, wholeheartedly in the mix for the program’s first ACC title.
Throw in a friendly schedule where things lighten up a bit with Florida in the rearview; Florida A&M, Ball State and South Florida all on deck before ACC play opens on late September on a Friday night at home against Virginia Tech—who lost to Vanderbilt last weekend.
Road game at Cal and Louisville follow—the Cardinals winning the Coastal last year and besting Miami at HardRock—before a home showdown against what looks to be a reeling Florida State program before a former head coach rolls south with Duke; Diaz in his first year in Durham.
An early November road trip to a rising Georgia Tech squad; one the Canes have circled after last year’s five-turnover, refuse-to-kneel debacle—before Senior Day against Wake Forest and a regular season-ending road trip to Syracuse.
Lest fans get ahead of anything, Miami has seen a double-digit win season once since joining the ACC in 2004 and in twenty seasons has never won more than a lone division title in 2017.
The present and future look bright for the Hurricanes here in early 2024, but not out of line to occasionally check the rearview to see where other Miami teams have fumbled the bag in the past—due to distractions, overconfidence, letting up or stepping down.
Until then, savor the Florida beatdown, enjoy Florida State’s backslide and trust that year three couldn’t have gotten off to a better start, by way of winning a portal quarterback battle and revamping this roster with the right kind of buy-in players that championship-caliber squads need to compete.
Christian Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint with BleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.com where he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello is a storyteller for some exciting brands and individuals—as well as a guitarist and songwriter for his Miami-bred band Company Jones, who released their debut album “The Glow” in 2021. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.