The Miami Hurricanes need to win the rest of their games to have any hope of making the playoffs, and Saturday’s 41-7 victory over N.C. State was an encouraging sign.

Miami was dominant, shutting out the Wolfpack for nearly the entire game while the UM offense had a strong performance.

Here are five things we learned from the win on Saturday:

Miami’s defense is among the nation’s best

N.C. State may not be the best team in the nation, but its offense is solid. The Wolfpack entered Saturday’s game as a top-50 offense, and they had scored 48 points in their previous game against Georgia Tech. The Hurricanes held them to their worst performance of the season.

N.C. State did not get on the board until the final minutes of the game when quarterback CJ Bailey — a Chaminade-Madonna alum — ran in a garbage-time touchdown against many of Miami’s backups. The Wolfpack finished the game with 149 total yards — only 29 of which were on the ground. It was the Wolfpack’s lowest total of the season, but just the third-lowest among Miami’s opponents this season.

“Controlling the line of scrimmage and making them one-dimensional and hitting the quarterback certainly affected his accuracy, his timing, having to get rid of it earlier,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “Being able to play man coverage as much as we did tonight is also another thing that I think is really important going down the stretch here. And I think all those things combined just led to just really quick three-and-outs, great stops, and when the offense scores, that adds a lot of juice to our defensive guys.”

The Hurricanes are now seventh in the nation in points allowed per game (14.2) and ninth in yards allowed per game (270.9).

Carson Beck appears back on track

Miami quarterback Carson Beck has had some highs and lows this season. Saturday was another high.

The veteran, in his last college home game, completed 78 percent of his passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. He had no interceptions for the second game in a row, and Pro Football Focus gave him a 90.4 passing grade — his best mark of the season.

Beck said after the game that working back from his elbow injury has affected how quickly he could get perfectly comfortable in Miami’s offense, but now he feels 100 percent.

“Really, I just feel like I’ve found a flow in (the offense) and I really understand what coach (Shannon) Dawson wants to do and what we can do as an offense and be super explosive,” Beck said.

What can’t Malachi Toney do?

Is a freshman wide receiver the Hurricanes’ quarterback of the future? Probably not, but Malachi Toney continued to dazzle on Saturday.

Toney — as it’s been said numerous times throughout the season — should still be in high school, but he graduated early and reclassified so he could start college sooner. It doesn’t show on the field. On Saturday, he continued his excellent debut season with five catches for 54 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also threw a 43-yard pass to Jojo Trader, which set up another Miami touchdown.

Toney, who briefly played quarterback for Broward County powerhouse American Heritage, has been so good, nothing he does surprises his teammates and coaches anymore.

“No, there’s nothing that’s really surprised me from Day 1,” Beck said. “Shoot, even when I was in a cast, not even playing, I’m out there watching practice during spring ball, really Day 1, and I was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m glad that he’s on our team. I can’t wait to throw to this man.’

“Honestly, just super proud of him. The way that he works and all the success that he’s had this season is well worth it.”

Girard Pringle Jr. is a playmaker

The Hurricanes needed a boost in the running game with starter Mark Fletcher Jr. out with an injury. Freshman Girard Pringle Jr. provided it.

After rushing for 55 yards and a touchdown on seven carries against Syracuse last week, Miami turned to the freshman to start this week.

Pringle rewarded that faith, providing explosive runs en route to his first career 100-yard game. The Tampa native finished the game with 116 yards on 17 carries, and he added 32 receiving yards on two catches. PFF gave Pringle a 79.1 offensive grade.

Next man up

Miami was missing several key starters for its game against N.C. State. Fletcher, starting defensive tackle David Blay Jr., starting cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. and starting nickelback Keionte Scott. Wide receiver CJ Daniels, who has missed the previous two games with an injury, was not listed as out, but he did not play.

The Hurricanes had players step up to fill the void. With Scott and Frederique out, the secondary did not miss a beat. Safety Jakobe Thomas had two interceptions and had the highest PFF defensive grade (97.9) of any player in the nation. Pringle did well in his first career start. Keelan Marion continued his strong run of performance, leading Miami with 96 receiving yards and earning a 90.1 offensive grade.

Despite missing those players, the Hurricanes did not have a drop-off.

“It’s always next-man-up mentality,” Thomas said. “So all those guys in that room, from the bottom of depth chart to the top of the depth chart, are approaching it (the same way every week). So guys are prepared for the opportunities and when opportunities arise, they make plays.”

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/um-nc-state-takeaways/