Courtesy of Miami Athletics:
After seven months of waiting, it was finally time to play football again.
And when the seventh-ranked Miami Hurricanes took the field at Stanford Stadium for their season opener on Friday, it didn’t take long for them to show why they have the potential to be one of the more exciting teams in college football.
Sophomore wide receiver Malachi Toney, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, picked up right where he left off last season and had a career – and record-breaking – night. Quarterback Darian Mensah delivered a brilliant performance and Miami’s defense kept the Cardinal from ever truly finding a rhythm.
The ultimate result? A 45-6 win for the Hurricanes on a night in which they seemingly felt no ill effects after a 3,000-mile cross-country trek from Coral Gables to California.
The win marked the 20th straight game in which Miami has scored 20 points, and it took all of one drive for those points to start piling up.
Miami needed just four plays on its opening possession to find the end zone, taking a quick lead when Mensah connected with Toney on a 23-yard scoring play.
The two would connect again on the Hurricanes’ second drive of the game, this time on a 2-yard scoring play that pushed Miami’s lead to 14-3 after the extra point by Jake Weinberg.
Toney and Mensah combined for another score in the third quarter and on that 47-yard touchdown that pushed Miami’s lead to 42-6, Toney set a new Miami single-game receiving record, surpassing the mark of 220 yards set by Eddie Brown against Boston College in 1984.
Toney finished with 12 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns while the quarterback who got him the ball all night had a career showing himself.
Mensah, who led the ACC in passing last season, completed 28 of 31 passes for a career-high 401 yards with five touchdowns. He has now completed at least one touchdown pass in 19 straight games, the longest such streak among FBS signal callers.
Against Stanford, Mensah also became just the second quarterback in program history to throw for more than 300 yards in his Miami debut, following in the steps of Cam Ward who threw for 385 yards in a 41-17 win over Florida in 2024.
Adding to Miami’s gaudy offensive numbers Friday were receiver Cooper Barkate, who finished with four catches for 67 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter, and running backs Mark Fletcher Jr. and Marty Brown, who combined for 77 yards.
In all, the Hurricanes totaled 544 yards in the win, averaging 8.2 yards per play.
The defense, meanwhile, limited Stanford to just a pair of field goals and held the Cardinal to just 299 yards.
Marquise Lightfoot paced the defense with a team-high nine tackles, while Mohamed Toure added five tackles and Zechariah Poyser and Kellen Wiley Jr. had four tackles each.
With the season opener now behind them, the Hurricanes will refocus – quickly.
Miami will take the field at Hard Rock Stadium for its home opener on Thursday against Florida A&M. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
After seven months of waiting, it was finally time to play football again.
And when the seventh-ranked Miami Hurricanes took the field at Stanford Stadium for their season opener on Friday, it didn’t take long for them to show why they have the potential to be one of the more exciting teams in college football.
Sophomore wide receiver Malachi Toney, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, picked up right where he left off last season and had a career – and record-breaking – night. Quarterback Darian Mensah delivered a brilliant performance and Miami’s defense kept the Cardinal from ever truly finding a rhythm.
The ultimate result? A 45-6 win for the Hurricanes on a night in which they seemingly felt no ill effects after a 3,000-mile cross-country trek from Coral Gables to California.
The win marked the 20th straight game in which Miami has scored 20 points, and it took all of one drive for those points to start piling up.
Miami needed just four plays on its opening possession to find the end zone, taking a quick lead when Mensah connected with Toney on a 23-yard scoring play.
The two would connect again on the Hurricanes’ second drive of the game, this time on a 2-yard scoring play that pushed Miami’s lead to 14-3 after the extra point by Jake Weinberg.
Toney and Mensah combined for another score in the third quarter and on that 47-yard touchdown that pushed Miami’s lead to 42-6, Toney set a new Miami single-game receiving record, surpassing the mark of 220 yards set by Eddie Brown against Boston College in 1984.
Toney finished with 12 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns while the quarterback who got him the ball all night had a career showing himself.
Mensah, who led the ACC in passing last season, completed 28 of 31 passes for a career-high 401 yards with five touchdowns. He has now completed at least one touchdown pass in 19 straight games, the longest such streak among FBS signal callers.
Against Stanford, Mensah also became just the second quarterback in program history to throw for more than 300 yards in his Miami debut, following in the steps of Cam Ward who threw for 385 yards in a 41-17 win over Florida in 2024.
Adding to Miami’s gaudy offensive numbers Friday were receiver Cooper Barkate, who finished with four catches for 67 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter, and running backs Mark Fletcher Jr. and Marty Brown, who combined for 77 yards.
In all, the Hurricanes totaled 544 yards in the win, averaging 8.2 yards per play.
The defense, meanwhile, limited Stanford to just a pair of field goals and held the Cardinal to just 299 yards.
Marquise Lightfoot paced the defense with a team-high nine tackles, while Mohamed Toure added five tackles and Zechariah Poyser and Kellen Wiley Jr. had four tackles each.
With the season opener now behind them, the Hurricanes will refocus – quickly.
Miami will take the field at Hard Rock Stadium for its home opener on Thursday against Florida A&M. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.
