Canes Rewind: A Look Back at the Win over FAMU

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Each week this season, we’ll take a look at the game that was for the Hurricanes.

Here are some key storylines, numbers of note and quotes from Miami’s 56-9 win over Florida A&M, a win that helped the Hurricanes move up two spots to No. 10 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25.

The Recap

Another week, another fast start for the Hurricanes.

After scoring on six of their first eight possessions against Florida last week, Miami needed just six plays to score its first touchdown of the year at Hard Rock Stadium – even though FAMU had the ball to open the game.

Linebacker Wesley Bissainthe picked off Rattlers’ quarterback Daniel Richardson on FAMU’s first drive and two plays later, the Hurricanes capitalized.

Miami quarterback Cam Ward – who earned a plethora of honors after his 385-yard performance against Florida – made his first throw at Hard Rock Stadium count, connecting with Elijah Arroyo on a 17-yard scoring strike that gave Miami the early lead.

The Hurricanes wouldn’t look back after that.

Miami added two more touchdowns in the first half, with Ward having a hand in both.

Midway through the first quarter, Ward connected with wide receiver Xavier Restrepo for a 50-yard touchdown and early in the second, Ward found running back Chris Johnson, Jr. for a 9-yard touchdown.

Ward finished the day competing 20 of 26 passes for 304 yards with three touchdowns, while Restrepo had four catches for a game-high 104 yards.

In the second half, Miami’s deep running backs room showed its ability to produce with Mark Fletcher Jr., Damien Martinez and Jordan Lyle scoring on touchdown runs of 4, 33, and 1-yards respectively.

The Hurricanes defense did a solid job in Saturday’s win, keeping the Rattlers out of the end zone and holding FAMU to a total of just 190 yards, including just 52 rushing yards.

“Fast start and then offensively, got in a little bit of a rut there. [We] made some careless errors. We’ve got to coach and play that part better, but a really good response in the second half, albeit some of the penalties, the post-half penalties, which we have to be better at,” Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal said. “All in all, it was good to play a lot of players tonight. Certainly, a lot of young guys got action and actually played at a high level, particularly the defensive line. They seemed to get relentless pressure on the quarterback and do a good job stopping the run. Good to see those freshman linebackers get in there and get a couple interceptions, as well. All in all, we handled our business and [there are] lots of areas to get better at.”

Numbers to Know

18 – Number of consecutive home openers the Hurricanes have now won. That’s the longest such streak in program history.

3 – Sacks registered by defensive lineman Tyler Baron against FAMU. According to the Associated Press, Baron is the eighth Hurricane to notch three sacks in a game over the last 20 seasons.

10 – Spot now owned by Restrepo on Miami’s all-time career receiving yards list. With his 104-yard performance against FAMU, Restrepo now has 1,933 career receiving yards. He passed Andre Johnson (1,831) and Allen Hurns (1,891) on the career list and has now notched eight 100-yard performances during his Hurricanes career.

308 – Total points scored by kicker Andy Borregales during his Miami career after the senior converted on a field goal and five extra points against FAMU. Borregales has now passed Greg Cox for fifth on Miami’s all-time points scored list.

12 – Number of Hurricanes who caught at least one pass in Saturday’s win. It marks the second straight week more than 10 players have caught a pass in game action. Last week against Florida, 11 different Hurricanes registered at least one catch.

Quotable

“He’s not one of those ceramic quarterbacks. He doesn’t want to be. He’s a flat-out baller. He wants to play ball. He wanted to come to Miami to win and win a championship and he wanted to improve himself as a player and he is doing all of those things. He has actively and with purpose, identified those things and is pursuing betterment in all those areas. That was one of them right there…Great game by him.”

– Head coach Mario Cristobal, on Cam Ward’s diving 1-yard touchdown run

“It’s very important because we’ve still yet to play our best ball on both sides of the ball. So, you know, it’s good for us. But it’s also something that as we get into the season, we’ve got to really mature even more than what we already are. And … it’s really just keep preparing like we [have] been through the last two weeks, like we did in fall camp. At the end of the day, it’s all about just winning games by any means. If it’s going to be a blowout, that’s good. If it’s going to be a tight game, we’ll give you both sides the ball and come with it. That’s good. But the big thing for us is to try to continue to win games and to just keep playing as a team.”

– Quarterback Cam Ward, on Miami’s business-like approach to the season and schedule

“It means a lot, you know, but honestly, the only thing that matters right now is that we went 1-0 this week. I’m just super excited to take the field with my guys every single week. We put in the hard work Monday through Friday again to have an opportunity like this. It’s all God.”

– Wide Receiver Xavier Restrepo, on his progress up the career all-time receiving yards list

“I feel like it’s good that we just are getting in there and learning from the guys in front of us and getting the playbook [down] and just doing the right stuff early. I feel like for both of us, we’re just kind of keeping our heads down and just kind of trying to get our game better.”

– Defensive lineman Justin Scott, on how important it’s been for him and fellow freshman Jordan Lyle to get significant playing time early in their careers

“For me, it was my first three-sack game in college. So, I mean, it’s a big night for me. I’m happy, but I’m really ready to move on and just get ready for our game next week.”

– Defensive lineman Tyler Baron on his three-sack performance against FAMU

Up Next

The Hurricanes will return to Hard Rock Stadium next week to host Ball State, which opened the season this past Saturday with a 42-34 win over Missouri State.

The Cardinals, who on Saturday scored the most points in a season opener since 2018, overcame a slow start and scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

Quarterback Kadin Semonza completed 28 of 39 passes and threw for 262 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for another score. Running back Braedon Sloan added 21 carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns.

Saturday’s meeting will mark the first game between Miami and Ball State.