The Miami Hurricanes rolled up the Florida A&M Rattlers 84-7 in their 2026 season opener at Hard Rock Stadium before a visibly impressive Thursday night crowd.
Darian Mensah was once again close to perfect, engineering seven touchdowns in his seven drives. He was 14/15 passing for 252 yards with three touchdowns. Mark Fletcher, Jr. turned 7 carries into 105 yards and two touchdowns. Malachi Toney had 4 grabs for 96 yards and a touchdown.
And man, there were so, so many more players who had strong games.
The Hurricanes rolled up 856 yards of total offense!!! What??? That was third most in ACC history, and their 41 first downs set an ACC record.
Miami started smart by handing the ball three times to Fletcher on the opening drive. Boom. Boom. And bang, a 46-yard touchdown. After a punt, Mensah laid it in stride to Josh Moore for a 55-yard touchdown. After another quick punt, Fletcher walked across the cleared-out goal line for a touchdown.
After another quick punt (this is a scheduled phrase now), Mali shook his man to get silly wide open alone in the end zone for a 19-yard score. And that was after he MOSSED a defender that left jaws on the floor. The next drive, Girard Pringle, Jr. shook half the FAMU defense out of their shoes and cut up for a 4-yard touchdown. And to make sure his good friend Cooper Barkate was involved, Mensah lobbed a perfect fade into the end zone for a 9-yard score. And just for good measure, to finish out the first half scoring at 49-0, Javian Mallory sliced through the middle of the defense for an 11-yard score. Starters are done. One incompletion, and NO THIRD DOWNS. Just stupid-good.
Luke Nickel came in and looked good. He laid it in perfectly to Somourian Wingo for a 47-yard touchdown to open the third quarter. He also connected with Vandrevious Jacobs (33 yards) and Vance Spafford (21 yards) for scores. Nickel was on the money with just about every throw and finished 8/8 for 144 yards and three touchdowns. He threaded the needle to Spafford in the back of the end zone between two defenders for one of the most impressive plays of the night.
Mallory finished out the scoring by scampering 52 yards and tiptoeing the sideline into the end zone for a 77-0 lead. Mallory went for 142 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns and looked phenomenal in his first home action.
A strip-fumble return in the fourth quarter against the back end of Miami’s depth chart gave FAMU their only points of the day.
Miami’s defense was equally strong. They held the Rattlers to just 107 total yards: 70 passing, 37 rushing on 21 carries. There was just nothing there all game, and FAMU (IIRC) crossed midfield on offense one time. There weren’t many deep dropbacks, so the two sacks don’t tell the whole story, but it was dominant again.
Next up: at Wake Forest on Friday, Sept. 18.
