Miami continued its strong start to the season with a blowout win against upstart, in-state rival USF, giving the Hurricanes their third consecutive 3-0 start to the season.
After beating a Bulls team that garnered national attention for its hot start to the season, Miami is getting its own share of national hype. After the win, ESPN announced that College GameDay will broadcast from South Florida before the Florida-Miami game next week: the first time College GameDay has broadcast from a UM home game in five years.
But before Kirk Herbstreit and company come to town, let’s look at five things we learned from Miami’s win over USF:
The defense excelled
A lot of the talk around the Bulls entering the game was about the offense, which is led by dual-threat quarterback Byrum Brown.
Miami allowed a few explosive plays but largely kept USF bottled up. The Bulls had 332 total yards, which was their lowest total of the season, and they averaged 4.9 yards per play — more than a yard lower than their previous in their two season-opening wins.
The Hurricanes frequently got USF off the field, with nine of its 12 full drives ending with a punt or turnover. Five of those drives were three-and-outs, and the Bulls converted only seven of 21 attempts on third and fourth downs.
“The amount of pressure they put on their quarterback, the job they did on first and second down to put us in favorable third-down situations allowed us to play to our strengths, right — our speed, our power — and allowed us to get the ball back,” Cristobal said.
Freshmen receivers keep stepping up
Freshman slot receiver Malachi Toney was the big topic of conversation after his excellent debut against Notre Dame in Week 1. It took two more weeks for fellow freshman and Broward County native Josh Moore to have his own breakout game.
Toney had another solid game, Moore scored Miami’s first two touchdowns — an 8-yard touchdown and a 39-yard score. Moore ended the game with three catches for 61 yards in his best game of his short career. Toney added another six catches for 66 yards, keeping his strong season going.
Moore had a 92.7 offensive grade from Pro Football Focus this week, which was the third-best grade among all receivers this week.
Mark Fletcher Jr. keeps proving himself
Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. had two solid games to start the year, but his performance against the Bulls was the best so far. Fletcher rushed for 120 yards in his third career 100-yard game. It was his first time eclipsing the century mark since he rushed for his career-high 126 yards against Louisville in 2023.
Fletcher averaged 7.5 yards per carry on Saturday, bringing his season average up to 6.5 yards per attempt. Impressively, 87 of Fletcher’s yards came after contact — an average of 5.44 yards after contact per attempt, according to PFF. That was 11th in the nation this week among running backs with 10 or more carries, according to PFF.
Fletcher had an 81.1 offensive grade with an 82.7 rush grade on Saturday, which ranked 10th and third nationally, respectively. Fletcher has an 87.7 rushing grade this season, which is third nationally among running backs with 20 or more carries.
“He finds a way to make space and make holes and contact, plus two (yards),” Cristobal said. “And then as the game wears on, people start taking chances, trying to tackle him a little bit earlier and not let his momentum (get) going. And that’s when he’s really dynamic. He starts making people pay.”
Offensive line keeps rolling
Fletcher was able to run so well in part because the Miami offensive line continued blocking well.
PFF gave the Hurricanes an 87.4 pass-blocking grade and a 74.8 run-blocking grade for their performance this week. The pass-blocking grade was UM’s best mark of the season.
Right tackle Francis Mauigoa led the way with a strong 85 pass-blocking grade, and fellow linemen James Brockermeyer, Markel Bell and Samson Okunlola were right behind him with pass-blocking grades in the 80s. Okunlola, who has been rotating in primarily at guard, was the only lineman who had run-blocking and pass-blocking grades above 80.
Quarterback Carson Beck was under pressure only five times out of 30 dropbacks.
Beck performing well
Beck did throw two interceptions in the game, both times while he was under pressure, but after the game, he said he was not overly concerned about them, given the situations and unique circumstances of each one. The first came late in the first half as UM was trying to move the ball quickly, and the second was on a tipped pass.
“Not really an area of focus, but never want to turn the ball over,” Beck said. “So definitely going to watch it and see what we can do better as offense and obviously, personally, for myself.”
Other than the two inconsequential interceptions — Miami already had a big lead, and neither turnover led to USF points — Beck had a strong game. He completed 23-of-28 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns. He earned a 77.3 offensive grade and a 76.1 passing grade. Beck’s 79.3 completion percentage currently leads the nation.
Beck even got the chance to show off his athleticism, rushing for his first touchdown of the season.
“We knew that they were going to play man, play some like match three, blitz the edges, try to defeat our run game and crash hard off the edges,” Beck said. “So it created some opportunities for me to be able to use my legs a little bit.”
