Hurricanes want to show enough is enough. First up: A top-10 test with Notre Dame
After the Miami Hurricanes’ first practice of fall camp on July 31, defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor wore a black T-shirt with one word on it: Enough. The U in the center of the word was the Miami logo.
He has been around long enough to know the narratives around the team.
Miami can’t finish. Miami doesn’t have discipline.
“Enough of that,” said Mesidor, entering his fourth season with the Hurricanes after transferring in from West Virginia in 2022. “Just all the bull ... enough of it. Time to change it.”
The only way to change it is to win in the big moments, when it matters the most.
The Hurricanes will have a prime chance to start changing that narrative in prime time on Sunday, when No. 10 Miami opens the 2025 season against the sixth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Hard Rock Stadium (7:30 p.m., ABC). It’s UM’s first top-10 matchup to begin a season since 2004.
“This the type of game that you come to Miami for,” running back Mark Fletcher Jr. said. “Like these are type of games that you just want to play in and you dream about playing in.”
It’s the final of three top-10 matchups on the first full weekend of the college football season, following Saturday matchups between the top-ranked Texas Longhorns at No. 3 Ohio State and No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson.
But the result of the Miami-Notre Dame game might have the most impact long-term of the three in terms of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Hurricanes enter the game as two-and-a-half point home underdogs.
“The game that would traditionally be the most marquee is the game involving Texas and Ohio State, 1 vs. 3 in the AP poll. I understand that,” said ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, who will be on the call for the Hurricanes-Fighting Irish game on Sunday. “But when the season ends, I think Texas will be in the playoff. I think Ohio State be in the playoff comfortably. In regards to the outcome of Week 1, I think the loser of this game [Miami-Notre Dame] could very well be battling a very uphill battle at season’s end. And this will be a game that we will 100% reference when I’m sitting there on selection day. I know that this will be a game that comes up.”
The Hurricanes were on the wrong side of that conversation a year ago. They started the season 9-0 and ranked as high as No. 4 in the CFP poll with three games left in the regular season.
But then they dropped two road games in those final three weeks to unranked Georgia Tech and Syracuse. They missed out on the ACC Championship Game and were on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff.
So while UM made significant progress in Year 3 under coach Mario Cristobal, going from 5-7 in Year 1 to 7-6 in Year 2 to 10-3 in Year 3, there was still a lot to be desired.
The next step is getting over that hump and proving they can contend for championships.
“No doubt, it’s how you finish,” Cristobal said. “We’ve made a lot of progress over the last three years. Year 1, our roster was not really built to take on Power 4 football, and those were some lopsided games and those were tough. Year 2, everything was competitive, and we won a couple more. Then last year, we had a chance to win every single game, but we didn’t. The bottom line is we didn’t get it done.”
The Canes have a chance to get it done this season.
Most pundits see the Hurricanes as a likely playoff team if they can handle their business. They play three teams ranked in the AP poll’s preseason top 25 in Notre Dame, No. 15 Florida and No. 16 SMU. Eight of their 12 games are at home, and they don’t leave the state of Florida until November. They have a veteran quarterback in Carson Beck to lead the offense after Cam Ward set school records in offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s scheme a year ago. They have a revamped defense under new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman after the group faded in conference play last season to knock out Miami’s championship hopes.
“Miami has all the makings of a team that could go on a legitimate run,” McElroy said.
If they can do that, maybe enough will finally be enough.
.JPG)