MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – For Miami, it’s been a quirky start to the year.

A road trip to California to kick the season off on a Friday night. A home opener on a Thursday. And last week, another Friday night game, this time in North Carolina.

It took nearly a month for the sixth-ranked Hurricanes to finally get a Saturday evening at Hard Rock Stadium, but when they got the opportunity, they found ways to make it count.

After coming up short on its first drive of the game, Miami scored on its next six possessions en route to what was ultimately a 52-3 win over Central Michigan.

It was a win that required Miami overcoming some challenges, given that the Hurricanes (4-0) were hit by the injury bug during last week’s win at Wake Forest.

But Miami’s depth delivered, with new faces stepping up on both sides of the ball.

“We’re deep, and I think those guys are also hungry, and I think they did a great job of taking advantage of their opportunity tonight,” Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah said. “But as the season goes on, we’re going to have to have more guys step up as well.”

Freshman Javian Mallory, who got the first start of his collegiate career with Mark Fletcher Jr. and Marty Brown out, scored Miami’s first touchdown of the night on a 4-yard carry on the Hurricanes’ second drive.

Fellow running back Chris Wheatley-Humphrey, meanwhile, posted the first 100-yard game of his Hurricanes career, totaling 104 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

And with wide receiver Joshua Moore out, Miami’s receiving corps – including Cooper Barkate, Daylyn Upshaw, Vandrevius Jacobs and Somourian Wingo, among others – delivered, with six different receivers and 11 different Hurricanes catching passes.

Among those receivers posting impressive numbers? Malachi Toney, who finished with six catches for 120 yards and a touchdown.

It was Toney’s third 100-yard game of the season and the eighth of the standout sophomore’s Miami career.

“I feel like I played [well],” said Toney, whose 8-yard touchdown grab with 9:45 left in the first half pushed the Hurricanes’ lead to 21-3. “I can play better in different things that people may not see. In the film room, there’s always ways you can get better.”

Upshaw and Barkate also had touchdown catches in the win.

It was also, once again, a big night for Mensah.

A week after his record-breaking performance at Wake Forest, the quarterback – who came into the game with an FBS-leading 89.9 completion percentage – continued his impressive start to the season completing 23 of 27 passes for 338 yards with three touchdowns.

Mensah also scored on a 5-yard run, capping a 9-play, 97-yard two-minute drive just before the half when he scampered into the end zone and pushed Miami’s lead to 35-3.

“He extended plays, great pocket presence, protected pretty well,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said of Mensah, who has thrown more touchdowns on the season (14) than incompletions (12). “But a couple of times when it got sticky, he found a way to use his feet tonight in an awesome manner, especially right before the half.”

Miami’s defense also delivered another impressive performance.

While Central Michigan (2-2) managed a field goal on the game’s opening drive – and put Miami in its first deficit of the season – the Hurricanes kept the Chippewas from ever getting into a consistent rhythm after that.

Miami held Central Michigan to just 158 total yards, including a meager 21 rushing yards.

That was hardly the only defensive metric that went Miami’s way Saturday night.

The Hurricanes also forced three turnovers, with Miami taking one of those takeaways – a fumble recovered by freshman safety JJ Dunnigan – and turning it into points with Toney’s second-quarter touchdown.

“Winning the turnover ratio is kind of the key to winning the game,” said defensive lineman Justin Scott, who had two tackles and a tackle-for-loss in the win. “We’re trying to win the turnover battle week in, and week out.”

Despite being without defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. and with fellow lineman Armondo Blount limited, the Hurricanes still totaled eight tackles-for-loss and four sacks Saturday.

Both were season highs.

“That was just our standard,” said defensive end Marquise Lightfoot, who had four tackles, two sacks and forced a fumble. “We came in knowing that they prioritize running the ball, so we just wanted to stop it.”

Said Cristobal of the defensive effort and the forced turnovers, “Felt we swarmed better, felt that we tackled better. I know [defensive coordinator Corey] Hetherman grades that very strictly but, yeah, overall, just felt that a part of our game we improved.”

Now, with the first month of the season and the bulk of their non-conference schedule behind them, the Hurricanes will turn their focus to ACC play and a series of four straight conference games.

The first on that list comes next week when Miami travels to Clemson for a nationally televised primetime showdown against the Tigers, who have bounced back from a 51-10 season-opening loss at LSU to win three straight games, including a 24-10 victory over California on Friday night.

It will be another opportunity, the Hurricanes say, to carry on their mantra of going 1-0 for the week and to start the month of October on a positive note.

“It’s just a 1-0 mentality,” Lightfoot said of Miami’s performance during the first month of the season. “Every game, we focused on that game, that week. Now, Central Michigan’s over with and we’re going to be focusing on Clemson and just [that] 1-0 mentality. We’re going to treat it exactly like we treat every game.”