Welcome to the 2026 college football season everybody! On Friday night, your Miami Hurricanes began the 2026 campaign with a dominant 45-6 win over the Stanford Cardinal. That’s what you want to see!
Mike Schiffman has your game recap:
AND Mike Schiffman is back with the 3 stars of the game:
Let’s get into this season-opening
edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
The Good
- A win! I will never take this for granted.
- Miami is still undefeated against Stanford all-time….at 2-0 after this game.
- QB Darian Mensah. He wasn’t as good as advertised….he was BETTER. 27/30 passing for 401 yards (per the official stats feed so don’t come at me about the tweet below having a different number) with 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The yards and touchdowns are both new career highs for Mensah.
- WR Malachi Toney. 12 catches for a career-high and new program-record 234 yards and 3 touchdowns.
- WR Cooper Barkate. 4 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown.
- WR Daylyn Upshaw. 3 catches for 30 yards and a touchdown.
- EDGE Marquise Lightfoot. 9 tackles, some key run stops, and flashed pass rush skills.
- EDGE Armondo Blount. 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, multiple pressures, and holds forced.
- S Zechariah Poyser. 4 tackles and solid coverage over the top of his receiver.
- S J.J. Dunnigan. My favorite freshman showed out. He’s only credited with 1 tackle, but I saw at least 4 tackles and a TFL. Either way, learn the name. He’s gonna play a LOT this season.
- All the freshmen who made the collegiate debuts. There were TONS of them, but congrats to each player who made their collegiate debut tonight. Welcome to the U!
- First touchdown of the year? Darian Mensah to Malachi Toney from 23 yards out. Get used to that combo this season, everybody!
- DL Armondo Blount with the first sack of the year for the Canes
- OH hey look! Another Malachi Toney touchdown.
- Breaking news: Malachi Toney is REALLY GOOD.
- In case you were wondering, QB Darian Mensah is pretty, pretty good, you guys.
- Mensah picked up where he left off to start the second half, this time connecting with old friend Cooper Barkate for the 34 yard score.
- Yet ANOTHER Malachi Toney touchdown. MY GOODNESS.
- With the catch shown above, Toney broke the record for most receiving yards in a game in Miami Hurricanes history. Congrats!
- EDGE Marquise Lightfoot with a pair of huge run stops to kill a Stanford drive dead before it started. That, more than the pass rush ability, is what Miami has to replace with Bain and Mesidor’s departures. If Lightfoot is doing this regularly, oh BUDDY we’re cooking with gas!
- 549 yards of offense
- 428 yards passing
- 121 yards rushing
- 67 total plays
- 8.2 yards per play
- 14.3 yards per completion
- 12 chunk plays — 9 passes (15+), 3 runs (10+)
- 3/3 red zone scoring — with 3 touchdowns
- 27 first downs
- 8/11 on 3rd down
- Held Stanford’s star RB Micah Ford to 11 carries for 27 yards (2.5ypc). That’s how you take away the opposition’s best player and run game. It just so happened that Ford was both of those things.
- Held Stanford to 299 yards of offense.
- Held Stanford to 78 yards rushing.
- Held Stanford to 5/15 on 3rd down.
- Held Stanford to 0/1 on 4th down.
- Held Stanford to 4.6 yards per play.
- Held Stanford to 3.4 yards per rush.
- Won time of possession 34:21 to to 25:39 for Stanford.
- 1 sack — Blount
- 4 holding penalties forced by Stanford’s OL
- Only allowed 2 TFLs
- 0 sacks allowed
- Held Stanford to 2 FGs on 2 red zone possessions, each which had them with 1st and goal in the series.
- Being able to empty the bench and play multiple backups and freshmen in an ACC conference game. See, this is what happens when you score touchdowns and win big!!
- The first advanced stats snapshot of the year tells the story of a Miami blowout win. I mean LOOK AT ALL THE DEEP PURPLE (very, very bad) ON THE STANFORD SIDE!!!! This was the blowout it should have been.
The Bad
- Defense giving up way too much real estate to Stanford. Davis Warren was carving the Canes up in the passing game, particularly on play-action.
- Miami’s retooling OL struggled mightily in the run game. I know it’s early and Stanford isn’t great competition, but that’s even more cause for concern. Despite the fact that Stanford played well up front against last year’s OL when these teams faced off, this trend of struggling to run the ball against them must end. Regardless (or irregardless for CERTAIN Miami residents — which is INCORRECT AND NOT A WORD AND I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU TRY TO TELL ME) the first 5 we saw tonight — Okunlola, Alofaituli, Rodriguez, Buchanan, McCoy — isn’t the 5 for this season. They can’t be. They won’t be. They aren’t.
- The run game. Raw numbers were middling at best, and that was helped by 2 big runs late.
- Allowing 17 first downs for Stanford
- Allowing 10 yards per completion for Stanford
The Ugly
- Only 2 TFLs (and I disagree with the official scorer on this count)
- Only 1 sack
- The run game. Take out Javian Mallory’s 3 carries for 31 yards, and you’re left with a paltry 3.1 yard per carry average. Yeah, that won’t cut it.
- And, for reference, even WITH Mallory’s stats, that only pushes Miami up to 3.8 yards per carry, so it’s not like there was a lot of success on the ground either way.
- 5 penalties for 50 yards.
- 4 of the above listed penalties came in the 2nd half. Don’t start this shit. CLEAN IT UP NOW BEFORE IT GETS ANY WORSE!!!!!
- Needing several early Stanford drops to let the defense off the hook, and give the offense the chance to pull away. If those open catches were caught instead of dropped, we don’t lose the game by any means, but the furor of this discussion would be much, MUCH increased from what you’re seeing. Tighten up.
- An early injury. CB O.J. Frederique went low on a tackle attempt vs Stanford’s TE and hurt his shoulder. He immediately came off the field with his arm hanging dead, later went to the locker room, and didn’t play again. I don’t love that.
- A connection that I hope proves false: Reuben Bain Jr. got injured on the 2nd snap against Florida in 2024 and that basically ruined his season from a performance standpoint. Frederique was injured on the second defensive play tonight. Here’s hoping he’s able to return to top form sometime this season.
- The near disaster punt return. Short punt, Toney calling “FIRE” to get away…but Damari Brown didn’t hear it and the ball hit him in the back. LUCKILY for Miami, the ball actually hit a Stanford player’s foot before it bounced off of Brown, but that was an inch away from an unnecessary turnover. AND, Toney was dinged up for a moment after trying to dive into the fray to recover the loose ball. If that would have ended up with Toney seriously injured, my rage would have known no bounds.
- And, just so we’re clear here: yes, Malachi Toney should remain on punt returns. No, I don’t think he needs to be on EVERY return all season long. (translation, get him out of the game once the blowout has been verified).e
- Thanks, ACC.
- The absolute inability to cover TE Benji Blackburn. Stanford’s TE — who is a Miami native and Christopher Columbus HS alum — had 7 catches for 52 yards and I SWEAR it felt like double both of those numbers.
- The absolute inability to cover WR Caden High. Stanford’s star WR who was returning from a broken collarbone in preseason camp (HOW?!) had 6 catches for 92 yards and like Blackburn, it felt like more of both. That combo helped Stanford move the ball well between the 20s…when they weren’t holding Miami defenders with reckless regard.
- I hate to single players out here, but SJ Alofaituli was atrocious tonight. A bit of a surprise starter at LG, the sophomore from Las Vegas was not nearly ready for the challenge. He had some okay moments in pass protection, but he was routinely a cone around which his assigned defense walked around on Miami run plays. He’s honestly unplayable at this point. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
- The penalties that popped up in the second half. Didn’t love those. Offsides after offsides after (accidental) facemask after offsides. C’mon man. Focus up.
Team Grades
Offense: A++++++++++++++++++++
LOL HOLY SHIT THIS IS GOING TO BE AN INCREDIBLE SEASON!
I knew this offense was loaded. I knew Darian Mensah was the truth. I knew Malachi Toney was incredible. I knew Cooper Barkate could hoop. But WOOOOO BUDDY that combo today was un-fucking-real. Mensah had an easy 400 yards and 5 TDs — both career highs — and had more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (3) on the day. Toney routinely embarrassed Stanford’s DBs because the team from the smart school did the stupid thing: played man-to-man coverage on Toney. LOL. Toney broke the record for most receiving yards in a game in Miami Hurricanes history as a result. And Barkate got in on the action, too.
Now, I know I’m praising the passing game, which we should all be doing and we’ll do more of soon please believe that, but there are areas that need addressing. The offensive line struggled in run blocking situations. And yes, Stanford was crashing to the run, but the lack of success in the run game is a concern. The 5 OL who started tonight are not the 5 who will be playing in short order, even as soon as next week.
Operationally, there was 1 timeout for communication issues with the sidelines, but otherwise, this was a clear procedural game for the offense. Great job…..but even with this high grade because of the flash of the passing game and MULTIPLE career-high and all-time record setting performances included, there’s work to be done.
Defense: B
Miami kept Stanford out of the endzone. That’s good. Miami made Stanford punt 7 times. That’s good. But there are things to address on this side of the ball.
Two things stand out to me primarily: 1. finding a consistent pass rush, and 2. addressing the issues at Linebacker.
Miami got some good rush production at times, and forced Stanford into 4 holding penalties, but there were also plenty of instances where Davis Warren was able to stand in the pocket unbothered and pick the defense apart. I know you’re not going to get home on every pass play, but more consistency is needed.
The thing, for me, that was concerning was a middling passing game finding *TONS* of space when forcing the linebackers into coverage. Warren and his favored receivers found connections in that space behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties at will. Luckily, Stanford isn’t good and they committed a bunch of penalties, but what happens against a better team who doesn’t make those mistakes? Again, with championship aspirations, that’s the focus for me. Good was good enough tonight, but the defense will need to be markedly better in several areas for Miami to achieve their goals this season.
Special Teams: B+
Kickoffs were good, but I thought people had praised Jake Weinberg as having arguably the strongest leg in America. That wasn’t what I saw on kickoffs tonight, with one exception. Punting was great, when needed. Miami’s hit on consecutive Australian punters in Lou Hedley and now Dylan Joyce. We’re gonna need to find another Aussie for next year. And Malachi Toney didn’t get a chance to show out on punt returns tonight, but that’ll come. Shoutout to Javian Mallory and Girard Pringle Jr. for kick returns.
While the actual kicks of the punts were great, Stanford almost got home to block the first punt of the year. And if that would have happened, after the last punt of last season was blocked and contributed heavily to Miami losing the National Championship Game, I think you would have heard my scream from your current location. Yes, I live in Ft. Lauderdale. Yes, it’s hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from where you are. Yes, you still would have heard me in that moment. Guaranteed.
On a positive note, however, I thought both the kick and punt coverage units were very good tonight. Great physicality, intact coverage lane structures, and smart play all around. Keep that up.
Lastly, Jake Weinberg drilled his only FG attempt from 46 yards. That kick would have been good from 60 with all that leg. THAT’S what I’m talking about. Oh, and HUGE SHOUTOUT to punter Dylan Joyce for a yeoman’s job to handle a bad snap on the second PAT attempt and get it spotted in time for the kicker to kick it. Small detail but big impact. Bravo.
Coaching: A+
While it wasn’t a perfect game, this was a great job by Cristobal and company. Miami is unquestionably one of the top teams in the country, and has championship aspirations. Try though they might to ignore them, I’m sure the team knows what’s being said about them, knows the expectations others have for them, and the expectations they have for themselves, and the pressures that come along with that.
Cristobal and company took the program cross-country for a Friday night game — thank goodness it was the opener — and had them ready to go from the first snap to the last. They were fast. They were physical. They were dialed in, and the final score reflected all the hard work, preparation, and dedication of the entire program to make that happen. Kudos for that!
Now, we are going to dissect the issues with incredible focus moving forward, but this is more of a general reaction. The team was ready. 0 operational penalties on offense. Correctable (they damn well better be!) penalties on defense. And the kind of passion, performance, and excellence you’d expect from a Championship contender vs a bottom of the country rebuilding team. Miami was methodical in their dismantling of Stanford, and that is a credit to Cristobal and his staff. Again, bravo!
We’ve gotten the first one out of the way. Now, we continue to work. We continue to improve. We continue to march towards redemption from last year’s bitter disappointment in the end.
That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.
