DATE: Saturday, October 26, 2024
WHERE: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
TIME/TV: 7:00 PM EST/ESPN
LIVE AUDIO: 560 WQAM
MIAMI: Official Site | Schedule | Roster | Stats | Twitter
FLORIDA STATE: Official Site | Schedule | Roster | Stats | Twitter
The No. 6 ranked Miami Hurricanes (7-0, 3-0 ACC) will host rival Florida State (1-6, ACC 1-5) for the 69th time in school history. Miami leads the series (35-33).
FSU is currently on a three-game winning streak against Miami, which followed a four-game winning streak by the Hurricanes.
The Seminoles won last season 27-20 in Tallahassee and dismantled the Hurricanes in the prior year in Miami 45-3.
Storylines and Notables
Miami is off to a 7-0 start for the first time under Cristobal’s direction. Last time out, Miami continued its winning ways with a 52-45 road win over Louisville at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.
Miami is looking to start the season 8-0 for the first time since 2017, when it started 10-0.
Since joining the ACC, Miami has only started 7-0 three times: 2013 (7-0), 2017 (10-0), and now, 2024 (7-0).
For the first time in history, Miami scored 50 points for the fourth time in a single year. The last time Miami had a season featuring three offensive outputs of at least 50 points was in 2001, when it won the national title. Prior to this season, Miami had never scored 50 points in three consecutive games. UM is No. 2 in FBS in scoring offense.
Following a 52-45 win over Louisville last time out, Miami moved up to No. 5 in the LBM Coaches Poll and held on to their No. 6 spot in the Associated Press top 25 on Oct. 20. Miami had jumped to No. 6 in both Oct. 7 polls.
QB Cam Ward delivered another eye-popping outing against Louisville, finishing with 319 yards and four touchdowns on 21-for-32 passing. Ward is the first Hurricane to have thrown for at least 300 yards in seven straight games in history.
WR Xavier Restrepo had 101 yards on seven catches in the win, including a long catch of 63 yards. WR Sam Brown had 125 yards on three catches, including a 49-yard touchdown, while RB Damien Martinez led the way with 89 yards and one score. For the first time in history, Miami hit 50 points for the fourth time in a single year.
The Hurricanes totaled 219 rushing yards in the win - the most by Miami against an ACC team this year.
Defensively, Miami was led by DT Simeon Barrow, Jr., who had six total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and a sack. LB Raul Aguirre, Jr., recovered the fumble forced by Barrow in the end zone for a touchdown.
Miami’s win snapped a losing streak of three straight games following bye weeks; prior to the win at Lousiville, Miami had lost three post-bye games in a row and seven of their previous eight dating to 2018.
Stats
Miami
Ward has become the first Hurricanes quarterback in history to record seven straight performances of 300 passing yards or more; last time out, Ward threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns.
No quarterback in FBS has thrown for more touchdowns than Ward, who is tied for the FBS lead with 24 TDs.
At the FBS level, Ward has 18 career performances of 300 or more passing yards (including seven straight to start this season, the first UM quarterback ever to have seven consecutive 300-yard games). 18 is the fourth-most among active players entering Week 9. He trails only Dillon Gabriel (25), Will Rogers (23) & Seth Henigan (21).
Ward became the sixth FBS quarterback since 1996 to open a career at a school with seven straight 300-yard performances, joining Gardner Minshew (11 - WSU), Bailey Zappe (8 - WKU), Michael Penix, Jr. (8 - UW), Chase Holbrook (7 - NM State) & Will Grier (7 - WVU). Syracuse’s Kyle McCord is on a six-game 300-yard streak.
Restrepo is 21 yards away from surpassing the legendary Michael Irvin for No. 3 in Miami’s all-time receiving yards list, 108 yards to pass No. 2 Reggie Wayne (2,510), and 145 to pass Miami’s all-time leading receiver, Santana Moss (2,547).
With a six-catch, 99-yard performance vs. USF on Sept. 21, Restrepo became the 10th Hurricane in program history to eclipse 2,000 career receiving yards. Over his career, Restrepo has now totaled 2,403 yards.
With 101 yards at Louisville last time out, Restrepo moved into first place in career 100-yard receiving games with 10. Restrepo, who had seven catches at Louisville, also placed third in all-time receptions with 170.
Just this season, Restrepo has soared past Mike Harley (No. 8), Leonard Hankerson (No. 7), Stacy Coley (No. 6), and Lamar Thomas (No. 5) into the top-five in all-time receiving yards at Miami.
Miami kicker Andy Borregales scored 10 points at Louisville (one field goal, seven extra points), moving him to 350 career points. Borregales currently trails only Carlos Huerta (397) and Michael Badgley (403) in career points—he ranks third at UM.
His 64 career field goals are tied for third-most in Miami history, trailing only Badgley (77) and Huerta (73); he is tied with Jon Peattie (64).
Among active FBS kickers, Borregales is one of just six in the country with more than 60 career field goals, joining Jonah Dalmas (Boise State-87), Alex Raynor (Kentucky—66), John Hoyland (Wyoming—63), Tyler Loop (Arizona—63) and Graham Nicholson (Alabama—62).
Notable Team Stats
Miami is the nation’s third down conversion rate leader, capitalizing on 60.2% as an offense.
The Hurricanes rank No. 1 in all of FBS in total offense, averaging 577.3 yards per game.
Miami also ranks first in passing offense (388.4), first downs (195), and yards per play (8).
The Canes are the top team in the ACC in scoring offense (48.3), team passing efficiency (183), and completion percentage (69).
Miami is ranked No. 1 in FBS in plays of 20 or more yards (61) and No. 1 in plays of 10 or more yards (146). Of the 61 plays of 20 or more yards, 47 are passing - most in FBS. Of the 146 plays of 10 or more yards, 106 are passing. The Canes had only 48 passing plays of 20 or more yards and 129 of 10 or more pass yards in 2023.
Miami is ranked No. 3 in FBS in scoring differential in second halves; UM’s +17.14 differential trails only No. 1 Ohio State (+18.17) & No. 2 Indiana (+18.0). UM’s best stanza is the fourth quarter (+9.43) - the third-best 4Q in FBS.
Entering Week 9, the Hurricanes rank No. 5 in the nation in “defensive mayhem”—plays on defense featuring a tackle for loss, an interception, or a gained fumble. Miami has a 15.20% mayhem rate on defense; the Hurricanes have an 8.81% sack rate, a 12.59% tackle-for-loss rate, and a 4.20% interception rate.
UM ranks No. 10 in FBS in team sacks (3.29), No. 14 in tackles for loss (7.6) & No. 9 in passes intercepted (10).
Miami is one of just six teams to rank in the top 25 of both total offense (#1) and total defense (#21) entering Week 9 of college football. The Hurricanes rank first in the ACC in both categories - total offense and total defense.
Miami is one of just five teams whose average time of possession is more than 34 minutes per game—34:09, the fourth-highest mark in FBS.
In the “middle eight” rankings—which tracks the scoring in the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half, widely considered the most critical juncture of the game—Miami was No. 16 in FBS in the first two years under Mario Cristobal.
The Hurricanes have remained steady this year; Miami is ranked No. 18 in FBS in the middle eight this year (+3.9). From 2014 to 2019, teams that won the “middle eight” minutes of the game at the FBS level won 74% of the time.
UM is the only program in the country with two players with at least 18.0 career sacks each (Akheem Mesidor, 20.0). The Hurricanes have four players in the top 55 in FBS in career sacks entering Week 9—Barrow (15.0) is tied for 36th, and LB Francisco Mauigoa (13.0) is tied for 54th.
Florida State
Florida State completes the second leg of the season's only two-game road stretch this week by traveling for an in-state rivalry matchup at Miami. FSU has won 10 of the last 14 games in the series, including each of the previous three.
Alex Mastromanno's average of 49.4 yards per punt is 1st nationally. He leads the country in 50+-yard punts with 19. He has by far the most 50-yard punts with one or fewer touchbacks this season, as the next-closest punter has 14.
Shyheim Brown is tied for the national lead with two blocked field goals in 2024.
Samuel Singleton Jr. is the only P4 freshman with a kickoff return TD this season.
Notable Team Stats
The Seminoles are first in the nation with five blocked kicks this season, courtesy of four field goals and one punt block. They blocked one field goal vs. Cal, one at SMU, two vs. Clemson, and added a punt block at Duke.
Florida State is the only team in the country to block at least one kick in four different games, and its four-game streak with at least one blocked kick is the longest nationally this season. FSU's 14 blocked kicks under Mike Norvell are tied for 6th nationally and 2nd among P4 conference programs since the start of the 2020 season. Florida State has blocked 14 kicks (8 FG, 3 PAT, 3 Punts) under Norvell.
Florida State ranks 1st in the country with a net punting average of 46.34 yards per punt.
FSU also leads the ACC and is 18th nationally, averaging 25.0 yards per kickoff return.
Florida State held Duke to 70 passing yards, recording a season-high eight pass breakups and 180 yards of total offense. The passing yards total was the fewest allowed by an ACC team against a P4 conference opponent this season, and the Seminoles' pass breakups total was their highest since registering 10 in the 2023 ACC Championship Game victory.
FSU ranks 3rd in the ACC and 27th in the country in red zone defense, holding opponents to a .767 success rate.
Florida State registered 7.0 sacks in the win over Cal. It's the most sacks in a game since it also had 7.0 in the 2023 ACC Championship Game and the most allowed by the Bears since October 19, 2019. That sack total is also the most by an ACC team against an FBS opponent this season and tied for the 6th-highest single-game sacks total nationally in 2024.
FSU has recorded at least 5.0 tackles for loss in six straight games
Stats are as of October 25, 2024
Miami Athletics and Florida State Athletics contributed to this report.
Line: Miami - 21
Over/Under: 54
Weather: 84 Degrees, 10 percent chance of rain
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