It has been known that the Miami Hurricanes’ 2026 season would start on the road against the Stanford Cardinal. Earlier today, ESPN announced a slew of game times and tv slots for games this season, and in that released the Miami-Stanford game got a final placement.
It’s a game on the left coast, but it’s at a reasonable time!
Coming off an appearance in the National
Championship game, Miami has sky high hopes for the 2026 season. They’ve reloaded the roster, and are primed to make a run. Many consider the canes to be among the most talented teams in the country, and this game will be the first time we see this iteration of the team on the field.
Conversely, Stanford is looking to 2026 to rebuild a once-proud program, and take a step forward towards competitiveness and eventually success. Led by former star QB Andrew Luck as GM of the program, Stanford hired another former Cardinal QB, Tavita Pritchard, as the new coach for the program.
Miami will be ranked ranked in the top 10 in the country heading into this season. The expectations are sky-high, if not higher. But, you can only achieve your goals by winning the game in front of you, and that starts on the road at Stanford.
The last time Miami played out in the Bay area, they had a scintillating 39-38 comeback win over a Fernando Mendoza-led Cal Bears team in 2024. After going down 35-10, Cam Ward and the bomb squad on offense led Miami back into the game, and ultimately got the win. That game was the site of ESPN’s GameDay, and started at nearly 11pm Eastern time, and ended near 3AM on the East coast. A late night of football, that.
This year’s trip out West will happen at a much more reasonable hour, and for that, I’m thankful.
Miami. Stanford. September 4th. 9pm eastern. ESPN.
Start counting the hours until the 2026 season begins!
