From College GameDay to rivalry win, Hurricanes shine in national spotlight
The Miami Hurricanes’ Saturday started bright and early on campus. College GameDay was in town, broadcasting from Coral Gables to highlight a strong start to the season for a team living up to its expectations to be a College Football Playoff contender as it prepared to face an in-state rival for possibly the last time in a regular season game.
Pat McAfee took a plunge from the 10-meter diving board at the pool located adjacent to the crew’s set on campus as he made his selection for the game.
And with that, McAfee uttered the phrase that has rung hollow as the Hurricanes chase a national title that has eluded them since 2001 for the third time during the three-hour pregame show.
“I think,” McAfee said before making his dive, “The U is back!”
It ended in a sold-out Hard Rock Stadium, where the game played out in similar fashion to Miami’s three games this season that preceded it.
While things got too close for comfort at times, the Hurricanes played through raining conditions and a sputtering offensive performance to dispatch the Florida Gators 26-7.
It improves the Hurricanes to 4-0 on the season as they complete a perfect non-conference slate — and it gives them bragging rights over the Gators (1-3) for the foreseeable future.
Saturday was the final game of a three-game series between Miami and Florida that began with a 2019 matchup in Orlando and continued last season in Gainesville. The Hurricanes have won nine of their past 11 games against the Gators.
With the SEC moving to a nine-game conference slate and UF keeping its annual rivalry with Florida State, there’s no guarantee more games will be scheduled in the future. That means the next time these teams meet will likely have to be in either a bowl game or the College Football Playoff.
“This game should be on the schedule every year,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “It should be. It’s a shame that it’s not, so we wanted to make sure that we took advantage of the opportunity.”
The opportunity on Saturday was part of an all-day affair in the national spotlight. That’s what happens when a team is playing the way the Hurricanes are to start the season. They moved up two spots to No. 2 in the latest AP top-25 poll, their highest ranking since 2017, and look like one of the most complete teams in college football to this point this season and have shown they can win in multiple ways.
Against the Gators, the Hurricanes relied on a near perfect performance from their defense and a stout run game on a night when quarterback Carson Beck was lackluster.
Beck was 17 of 30 for 160 yards, no touchdowns and an interception against Florida. It tied for the fewest passing yards Beck has thrown for in a game he started during his collegiate career (excluding the 2024 SEC Championship Game he left with an injury).
But Miami didn’t need him to be the hero.
Not when the defense held the Gators to just 141 yards of offense — 80 of which came on their one scoring drive — while getting UF to go 0 for 13 on third down. The Hurricanes logged seven tackles for loss, four sacks and another four quarterback pressures as they kept UF quarterback DJ Lagway rattled all game.
“You could see some panic in him,” said star edge rusher Ruben Bain Jr., who was part of 10 of Miami’s 17 quarterback pressures on Lagway.
Not when running backs Mark Fletcher Jr. and CharMar “Marty” Brown combined for 249 yards of total offense (Fletcher 116 rushing yards, Brown 80 rushing yards and 53 receiving yards) and three touchdowns, two of which came late in the fourth quarter to pull away after UF pulled within 13-7 in the third quarter. It should have been four, but Brown’s 48-yard rushing touchdown on the opening drive of the second half was reversed to just a 3 yard gain after officials ruled his forward motion was stopped, a call UM disagreed with.
“It was frustrating,’’ Brown said of the reversed call. “But we came away with the win, and it was just a blessing to be out there in general. Refs aren’t perfect. We’re human beings. It’s all good.’’
Things indeed are all good with Miami right now. They’re one of 26 Power 4 conference teams that are still undefeated and one of two teams in that group with multiple wins against ranked opponents at the time of the matchup (Oklahoma is the other).
With that comes the external chatter, the buzzing, the praise — everything Cristobal wants his team to avoid.
The start has been strong, yes, but this team is far from a finished product.
“We’ve come miles,” Cristobal said, “but we’ve got miles and miles to go.”
The Hurricanes will reset over the next week, their first of two byes this season, before traveling to Tallahassee for what could be a top-10 showdown against in-state rival Florida State on Oct. 4 to begin Atlantic Coast Conference play.
“We’re going to work this week,” Beck said. “This is not a week off. This is not time to play games. This is not the time to take a step back. This is the time to work, so let’s work. Let’s get better at the things we need to get better at so that when we head into Tallahassee, we’re ready.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM.
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