miama Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal flashes the U as the fans celebrate the Canes defeating the Florida Gators in an NCAA college football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday, August 31, 2024. adiaz@miamiherald.com
“I think it’s pretty simple: Stay mad,” Cristobal said. “You should be very driven and hungry. You should be should be pissed. You should be mad. It was not our best football [against Florida]. … They’re so I would say focused on winning, they’re so about having enough of years of Miami not reaching it’s supposed potential that it’s not hard to point out the things that have caused issues in the past at Miami and to bright to light the things that must be done to avoid any setbacks.” The Hurricanes are at their highest point in the Cristobal era. Their No. 12 spot in the AP Top 25 poll is Miami’s highest ranking since the 2020 season
, when UM peaked at No. 7 and hovered between Nos. 9 and 13 throughout the rest of the season before dropping its regular-season finale to UNC and its bowl game to Oklahoma State to finish the season ranked No. 22. Miami didn’t finish a season ranked in a poll in the following three years, the final year under Manny Diaz and the first two under Cristobal. Which is why the Hurricanes are saying who they face each week is irrelevant. Rather, it’s how they play each week regardless of the foe that will determine how far they go this season. “One thing that coach tells us is play the game and not the name,” sophomore offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa said. “We play the game as it is. … We treat everyone equally.” Cristobal added: “We’re super excited about the progress that was made and some things that were done, but we’ve had enough experiences going the other way knowing that this is the best time to be our best.
Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (1) celebrates with fans after the Canes defeat the Florida Gators in an NCAA college football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday, August 31, 2024. Al Diaz / Miami Herald Staff adiaz@miamiherald.com That said, the Hurricanes do have a lot to build on from their win over the Gators as they move forward in the season. Offensively, the Hurricanes racked up 529 yards of offense and had just two plays go for negative yards. Ten players caught passes from Ward, who was the first Miami quarterback to throw at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in a season opener since Ken Dorsey in 2001 against Penn State.
But if you ask senior wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, who caught seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown, it was just “a decent day” on Saturday. “We showed a little bit of how dangerous we can be as an offense,” Restrepo said, who added the caveat that the Hurricanes are “nowhere near where we need to be. … We have a long way to go.”
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