Canes Set to Host Rival Seminoles

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Growing up, Xavier Restrepo made it a point to tune in every year.

It didn’t matter what the records were or where the game was being played. As a South Florida kid, Restrepo knew exactly what it meant when rivals Miami and Florida State met.

There’d be big plays he and his friends would try to recreate when they played. There’d be powerful hits and cheering crowds. And in so many ways, the game would often inspire.

“The legends that have just gone through these games are remembered forever,” Restrepo said. “And every legend I talk to almost always refers to the time they [played] FSU, you know? It’s definitely that type of deal. Every game is the same, you want to go 1-0 every single week. But at the end of the day, you come to Miami to play FSU. It’s big.”

On Saturday evening, Restrepo – a fifth-year senior who has been rewriting the Miami career receiving records list this season – will play in his final Miami-Florida State game when the unbeaten sixth-ranked Hurricanes host the Seminoles in a nationally televised prime-time showdown at Hard Rock Stadium.

And while this matchup may not have the championship implications of games past, and Florida State may be struggling in ways they haven’t in recent years, Restrepo is expecting the Seminoles (1-6, 1-5 ACC) to give the Hurricanes everything they can handle.

That’s just how this rivalry goes.

“They’re going to do things they haven’t done all season,” said Restrepo, who enters the game as Miami’s leading receiver with 39 catches for 686 yards and six touchdowns and who earlier this year became just the 10th Miami receiver to eclipse 2,000 yards for his career. “They’re going to execute … It’s just going to be one of those games. So, we have to prepare like crazy. You can’t prepare enough for this game. And we have to execute at the highest level. We have to play our best game this week.”

His head coach – who has played and coached in the rivalry – echoed that sentiment.

“I could say as a player, we never looked at the record of anyone we were playing,” said Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, a two-time national champion offensive lineman for the Hurricanes. “Whatever the record of any team is in this rivalry, you’re going to get the best version of them and they’re going to get the best version of you. That’s what makes the game so incredibly intense and physical and that’s why so many guys come here, to play in that game.”

Being at their best will, no doubt, be a priority for the Hurricanes (7-0, 3-0), who have found themselves in tight back-and-forth games against all three of their ACC opponents so far this season.

And while Miami has won all three of those games, the Hurricanes believe they can be better than what they’ve shown against Virginia Tech, California, and Louisville.

Showing they’ve continued to improve and playing well against Florida State won’t be just a positive to build on as Miami sets its sights on November – it will be essential if the Hurricanes want to leave Hard Rock Stadium tomorrow still unbeaten and with their first win over Florida State since 2020.

“It’s teach-and-learn. That’s a two-part system, right? And we’ve got to practice through every ounce of preparation, walk-through, meetings, you name it, we have to provide the guidance, the teaching, the mentorship, the confidence to be able to go out there and really cut it loose and play fast like we have shown in so many instances,” Cristobal said. “And the [areas] where we haven’t, certainly we didn’t look good, but we feel like we do address them, we attack them, get on with transparency and honesty. We know we’ve got to get better. We’re all over it.”

Added Restrepo, “We’re getting better each and every single day. As simple as that sounds, that’s literally our main focus, just trying to better ourselves internally and just cut out all the distractions externally.”

While all three of Miami’s conference games have come down to the final minutes, the Hurricanes do enter Saturday’s matchup against the Seminoles with one of the best offenses in the country.

Quarterback Cam Ward, a Washington State transfer who will be playing in his first Miami-FSU game, leads the nation with 2,538 passing yards on the year and 24 touchdowns.

As a whole, the Hurricanes are averaging 577.3 yards per game and 8.05 yards per play, both of which rank No. 1 among FBS programs.

But in their three conference games, the Hurricanes have allowed an average of 39.0 points – a number the defense know has to be better.

“From the d-line, linebacker and secondary, I mean, we haven’t played our best ball,” said defensive lineman Simeon Barrow Jr., who had six tackles, a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble in last week’s win over Louisville. “We know that it’s just communications issues and I feel like we just have to all just hone in together, play together and just keep on locking in and take it day by day.”

Florida State, meanwhile, has struggled offensively this year.

The Seminoles are averaging just 15.0 points and 276.0 yards per game.

Their defense, though, played well in Florida State’s last outing, a loss against Duke in which the Seminoles held the Blue Devils to just 70 passing yards and only 180 yards of total offense.

Still, while the numbers haven’t been what Florida State has usually posted or what they likely hoped for this season, the Hurricanes have continued to reiterate none of that will matter on Saturday.

It’s Miami and Florida State and that always means passion and high-level play.

“We’ve got a really, really good and talented football team coming in here and we’ve got to play our best football, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get there,” Cristobal said.

Added Restrepo, “It just all starts on Greentree. We have tons of respect for those guys, defending ACC champions, a really, really talented football team. You watch their defense, all five DBs can line up in your face, play man. They run around, have great ball skills. [The] d-line gets pressure, linebackers play really solid … again, it starts on Greentree. We have to practice hard these next couple days and just be [as] prepared as we can be.”