STANFORD, Calif. – For weeks, they’ve pushed each other during sweltering workouts on the Greentree Practice Fields. Before that, they endured hours of grueling offseason conditioning workouts. They’ve navigated spring drills and studied playbooks.

Now, more than seven months after a magical run that brought them to the championship game of the College Football Playoff, the Miami Hurricanes are set to begin a new season.

To say there’s a sense of excitement that spans more than 3,000 miles from Coral Gables to Northern California – where that season will kick off – would be an understatement.

“We’re more than ready,” linebacker Mohamed Toure said. “We’ve been preparing since [that day] … it’s been seven and a half months. We’ve been preparing every single day and we’re going to continue to prepare until Friday, continue to prepare for the moment and just be ready when the time comes.”

Said running back Mark Fletcher Jr., “It’s about time. We’re just ready.”

The seventh-ranked Hurricanes are set to open their season Friday night with a conference showdown against one of the ACC’s newest members, Stanford.

That’s meant that along with getting to know new teammates and coaches, practicing plays and getting ready to get back on the field, the Hurricanes have had to travel across the country, fight jet lag and acclimate to a three-hour time difference ahead of the opener.

But heading into the game, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal credited the team’s sports science staff, nutrition team, strength and conditioning staff and academic advisors with helping make sure the Hurricanes are as prepared as possible, physically and mentally, for the matchup that awaits them.

“Well, we have a process. You want to get your body, your mind acclimated. So, your travel plans are very different,” Cristobal said. “It resembles what we did in the postseason last year. You want to be able to practice out there. It’s a night game. That [was] the biggest challenge out there a couple of years ago. I mean, let’s call it like [it is]. Nine o’clock there is 12 o’clock as to what we’re accustomed to. …

“But we feel that our sports science department, along with strength and conditioning, nutrition and just experience in studying NFL teams, some other organizations, their records and their processes over the years traveling east to west, we’ve implemented that stuff. We feel strongly about it, and we put it into action. … The bottom line is let’s go play football and we’ll find out a lot about ourselves.”

Miami’s opener brings with it another unique challenge, given that Stanford has already played a game – and won.

Last week, the Cardinal withstood a 20-point, fourth-quarter rally by Hawaii before eventually hanging on for a 37-27 win over the Rainbow Warriors.

In that game, Stanford running back Micah Ford rushed for 99 yards and three touchdowns, including a 2-yard run with 1:41 left that helped clinch the win, while quarterback Davis Warren threw for 312 yards and a touchdown in his Cardinal debut.

And the Hurricanes expect both of them – and the rest of the Cardinal – to put together another strong effort.

“Hard runner. Gets downhill. He’s very tenacious,” Toure said of Ford. “He runs the ball with tenacity. He runs hard. After you pile on him, he’s still trying to chop … drive his feet. So, just being ready for that, being ready for him to do a lot of different things. He’s elusive. He’s fast. He’s quick. We’ve played backs like that, but he’s a great back and I’m just ready to compete against him.”

The Hurricanes will counter with an offense filled with playmakers that have shown their ability to impact games.

Last season, Fletcher totaled 1,129 yards, scored 12 touchdowns and set a new College Football Playoff single-season record with his 512 yards in the postseason.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Malachi Toney earned ACC Rookie of the Year honors after totaling 1,622 all-purpose yards, including a league-leading 1,211 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.

Joining them and the rest of Miami’s veterans like running backs CharMar Brown and Girard Pringle Jr., tight end Elija Lofton and wide receivers Joshua Moore and Daylyn Upshaw.

To that mix, the Hurricanes added ACC Preseason Player of the Year Darian Mensah, a transfer from Duke who led the ACC with 3,973 passing yards and 34 touchdowns, and fellow Duke transfer Cooper Barkate, who finished just behind Toney among ACC receivers with 1,106 yards and seven touchdowns.

And after spending the last seven months getting to know his new teammates, Mensah said he’s excited to see how Miami’s offense comes together, given the talent all over the field.

“It makes me happy because it just makes it that much easier as a quarterback,” Mensah said of the offensive players around him. “I go to people based off coverage, not based off of who they are. I’m not trying to find Coop on a certain play. I’m going to go where the defense is telling me to go. And when you have guys that can just separate and you know they’re going to have separation, it just adds to that level of comfortability and trust.”

Mensah will have his first opportunity to take advantage of that trust Friday. And while he and his teammates are excited about getting the season started, they know the focus must remain on the task at hand: playing Stanford.

For the Hurricanes, there’s little talk of last year’s playoff run or the expectations put on them by college football experts and fans across the country.

The goal is to continue working, getting better and finding ways to go 1-0 every day.

“At the end of the day, the message that Cristobal gives us is just taking that mindset, taking our Miami culture with us, packing it on the airplane with us, going to that trip to be able to face great opponents like Stanford,” Fletcher said. “So, now we’re going to be mentally and physically ready to go.”

Said Cristobal, “We’ve taken this as an opportunity to really challenge ourselves to do our very best.”