CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Already, they’ve begun the work of preparing for a new season.
Now, the Hurricanes know a little bit more about how that season will look.
There will be a Friday-night opener. A non-conference showdown in the Northeast against an old familiar foe. A road game against their biggest rival. And a marathon late-season, eight-game stretch against conference opponents that will determine Miami’s fate in the race for a berth in the ACC Championship Game.
The ACC’s new scheduling model means there won’t be any more crucial division games to determine which teams play for the conference title. Instead, Miami and the rest of the ACC’s teams will face a series of high-stakes matchups against opponents from across the conference.
That means this year, the Hurricanes will play teams they haven’t necessarily seen regularly.
Miami will host Clemson, the reigning conference champion and a former Atlantic Division team, in October. The Hurricanes will then close the season out with games against four more former Atlantic teams including Miami’s three new primary opponents: Florida State, Louisville and Boston College.
Each game will, no doubt, provide a unique challenge.
But they’re challenges Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal knows will only help his team as Miami continues working to become the championship-caliber program he believes it can be.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Cristobal said of the Hurricanes back in December. “There is no flinching. There is no nothing except that mentality to go forward. But the right pieces are starting to fall into place and you know, it’s back to work.”
Here, a breakdown of Miami’s 2023 schedule, which was released Monday night by the ACC:
Sept. 1, vs. Miami (OH)
Hard Rock Stadium
Miami University and the University of Miami haven’t met since 1987, but the two similarly-named schools will kick off the new season at Hard Rock Stadium the first Friday of September.
The Hurricanes will feature plenty of new faces across the roster, but the opener is expected to feature the return of a very familiar face – veteran quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who was hampered by a shoulder injury late last year and missed four of the final five games of the season. Despite that, Van Dyke still finished the year completing 63 percent of his passes and throwing for 1,835 yards and 10 touchdowns.