A top analyst explains why UM can win national title. And Canes personnel items
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:
▪ After calling UM’s 27-24 win against Notre Dame with Sean McDonough, ABC’s Greg McElroy left Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday believing the Canes are something they have rarely been over the past 15 years: a genuine national title contender.
“They can win the national championship,” McElroy said when ESPN’s Mike Greenberg asked him what UM’s ceiling is this season. “They are national championship contenders. With their personnel, the way Mario Cristobal has built this roster, they’re extremely physical.
“They have difference-making, take-over-the-game defensive ends like Rueben Bain, Akheem Mesidor. They have a veteran quarterback and they have really improved their skill set at wide receiver. I think this team is extremely well-rounded and could very easily make a run in the playoffs if they get there.”
McElroy said quarterback Carson Beck struggled last season at Georgia “when he was under duress. That was the furthest thing from the case against Notre Dame. He was able to move in the pocket. Very poised, very decisive. Able to get the ball out, buy a little extra time to allow his wide receivers to get open. At Georgia, when he was hit last year, the accuracy and decision making dropped tremendously. He looked like a pretty average guy...
“He played so much better under duress against the ferocious Notre Dame defense. If he can continue with that, he not only will reestablish himself as a great college player. He will prove to NFL scouts — I talked to some... and they were drooling [about Beck] — about what he might be able to do… at the next level.”
▪ Mario Cristobal said that the kickoff competition between Carter Davis (who hit a 47-yard game winner Sunday) and Texas transfer Bert Auburn was very close in training camp.
“Carter was 4 of 11 [on field goals] at FAU,” Cristobal said. “That’s like looking at high school film and saying `well, they haven’t won many games.’
“Take a deeper dive [and you see] what can he do. That ball is out the end zone about every time [on kickoffs]. The ball explodes off his foot. We trusted him, and it paid off.”
Davis didn’t exactly celebrate after the game-winning field goal on Sunday. “I went home and slept,” he said.
Davis says he always focuses on a specific visual behind the goal post when lining up for kicks. Before hitting the game winner on Sunday night, “it was a clump of cameras, like six and one maybe two feet to the left.... “I pick something stationary for infinite time, lettering on the wall, something very tiny.”
Davis cracked that ”I’m not a big social media person, but Instagram I gained a lot of followers.”
▪ Though UM defensive line coach Jason Taylor said in late July that Armondo Blount was being used exclusively at defensive end, the Canes decided to give him work at tackle in recent weeks and it paid off Sunday.
“We saw Blount take some reps inside,” Cristobal said. “Armondo Blount played hard, played really, really good football.”
Mesidor said on film, players saw “Blount chasing the ball down 20 yards. He’s a big high-effort guy.”
▪ Quick stuff: Cristobal told WQAM’s Joe Rose that UM took conditioning to another level this offseason, and that’s one reason Bain and Mesidor “don’t get tired” and had pressure on the two final plays that foiled Notre Dame’s final possession. Those two “changed the complexion of the game” on Sunday, Cristobal said...
Guard/tackle Samson Okonlola graded out as Miami’s best pass-protector in his 31 snaps on Sunday -—validation for UM’s decision to create playing time for him...
Beck — whose metrics at Georgia last year were much better when he had a clean pocket - was pressured on only four of 32 dropbacks on Sunday. “I’ve never seen a group work the way they do whether in the film room, extra work out on the field,” Beck said of UM’s offensive line. “We have off days, and they’re in the sandpit. I cannot speak highly enough of that group and the work they put in. They made my job a lot easier.”
▪ Ex-Canes file: Seattle has running back Damien Martinez on its practice squad after drafting him in the seventh round... Carolina released receiver Jacolby George and did not sign him to its practice squad... Receiver Xavier Restrepo remains on Tennessee’s practice squad... Atlanta signed former UM defensive lineman Simeon Barrow to its practice squad.
▪ Saturday’s 7 p.m. game might be the only Canes game all season that isn’t carried on linear television. It will be streamed on ESPN-plus and ACC Network Extra. It also will be available through ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service, which is priced at $29.99 per month. There will be no traditional network cablecast or broadcast.
UM’s third home game, on Sept. 13 against USF, will kick off at 4:30 p.m. and air on the CW Network, which has an affiliation with WSFL 39 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. The fourth home game, Sept. 20 against visiting UF, assuredly will be carried by a major network, but neither the network nor kickoff time has been determined.
Here is my Hurricanes 6-pack from Wednesday.
Here are grades and snap counts from the UM-Notre Dame game.
This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 9:10 AM.
