STANFORD, Calif. — The No. 7 Miami Hurricanes opened the season in dominant fashion, beating Stanford 45-6 on the road.
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Miami took control of the game from its first offensive drive and never looked back, subbing in the backups by the end of the third quarter and cruising to its first win of the season.
Here are five things we learned in the Hurricanes’ victory:
Mensah hits the ground running
All Miami quarterback Darian Mensah did for his UM debut was tear apart the Stanford defense. The veteran quarterback threw for 401 yards and completed 90 percent of his passes. He threw five touchdowns and had no interceptions.
Mensah attributed his quick success at Miami to his preparation.
“I’m just extremely confident in how I prepare for game time and just knowing that God’s in control,” Mensah said.
Mensah was in control from the start of the game, completing his first eight passes. He was rarely pressured, but he did not wilt when he did face rushers. His first touchdown of the game came with a blitzer rushing him, untouched. Mensah was hit late, but he completed the touchdown pass to Malachi Toney.
Mensah earned a 93 passing grade from Pro Football Focus, which was the best grade among quarterbacks who had played through Friday night.
“His skill sets really fit what we do,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “His ability to read the field and his ability to digest concepts and to continue to evolve is really, really impressive. He really is a guy that we’ve always felt the sky’s the limit. But when the lights come on, as you saw — and as you’ve seen before in his career at a couple different stops — when the lights come on, the game for him is fun, it’s exciting. And he gets after it.”
Toney for Heisman?
Toney’s Heisman campaign started immediately.
The sophomore wide receiver, who made a name for himself with a stellar freshman season last year, scored Miami’s first touchdown of the season. He celebrated by posing like the Heisman Trophy. Toney said there was not much thought put into that particular celebration.
“I just did it,” Toney said.
But the college football world took notice of the sophomore’s excellent performance. Toney finished the first half with 182 yards and two touchdowns on 10 catches. He added another score in the third quarter, breaking Eddie Brown’s 42-year-old record for most receiving yards in a game by a UM receiver.
Toney finished the game with 234 yards on 12 catches. He earned a 91.3 receiving grade from PFF, which made him the second-highest rated receiver among those who played through Friday.
“(Toney) is a special player,” Mensah said.
Malachi Toney hit the Heisman celly after his TD 🔥 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/quJNfu7kwM
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) September 5, 2026
Solid defense with room to improve
Statistically, the Hurricanes had a solid night on defense. They kept the Cardinal out of the end zone and held them to 299 total yards.
For comparison, last year’s touted defense held FBS opponents to fewer than six points only once — the 10-3 playoff win over Texas A&M — and allowed 299 yards or fewer in six out of 16 games.
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The Hurricanes also excelled on third and fourth downs; the Cardinal converted just 5 of 16 third- and fourth-down attempts. Stanford ran for 173 yards against Hawaii last week but managed just 78 rushing yards on Friday.
“I’d say it was just the standard of our defense,” defensive lineman Marquise Lightfoot said. “We knew what we came in working for and we accomplished it. Still a lot more work to do, but I’m glad we got our feet wet and left with the (win).”
But the defense also did not create many explosive plays. The Hurricanes had seven quarterback pressures, one sack and two tackles for loss against a depleted Stanford line. UM did not have a takeaway.
At times, Stanford quarterback Davis Warren was able to find holes in UM’s defense for first-down throws.
“Credit to their coaching style; credit to their players being smart, finding open holes in zone and stuff,” safety Zechariah Poyser said. “But that stuff, you’ve got to get back to the drawing board and fix that. So I think we’ll do that.”
Offensive line mix-and-match
The position group to watch in the early part of the season is Miami’s offensive line. After losing four starters from last year’s group, the Hurricanes sent several linemen to work with the first team on Friday.
Samson Okunlola and Matthew McCoy anchored the line at the tackle positions. Ryan Rodriguez started at center. SJ Alofaituli (41 snaps), Max Buchanan (50 snaps) and Jackson Cantwell (34 snaps) all rotated in at guard.
As a team, Miami had an 82.7 pass-blocking grade and a 65.2 run-blocking grade. Cantwell had the best pass-blocking grade on the team (82). Buchanan and Rodriguez had the best run-blocking grades out of the linemen (73.6). Alofaituli, Buchanan and McCoy were charged with allowing one quarterback pressure each.
“We had some solid moments,” Cristobal said. “I think pass (protection) was really good, again, albeit that first hit on Mensah — that’s more communication with the (running) back. He’s got to get over there where they’re in that front bringing that A-gap blitzer.
“And then the run game, there were some pluses and some other errors. We’ve got to clean up some. Again, the crowding of the box, that’s (Stanford’s) choice, and if they choose to do that, we still have to get push and get some muddy yards. And I think at times we did; other times, maybe not so well. But a positive first step for guys like Max Buchanan, S.J. (Alofaituli), Jackson (Cantwell). All these guys played in there and they rotated at the guard positions and (got) invaluable repetitions.”
Battle for WR3 continues
The Hurricanes entered the season with several options to play alongside Toney and Cooper Barkate at wide receiver. Sophomores Daylyn Upshaw and Josh Moore got the most snaps among that group of receivers, playing 27 and 22 snaps, respectively.
Each of them had impressive moments on Friday. Upshaw had three catches for 30 yards and a touchdown. Moore had three catches for 36 yards. Moore had a 72.2 receiving grade from PFF; Upshaw had a 70.5.
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