No. 3 Hurricanes beat No. 18 Florida State to continue building playoff resume
The Miami Hurricanes’ latest big test in a season filled with expectations? Passed with relative ease, even if things got way too close for comfort late.
The third-ranked Hurricanes made an emphatic statement on Saturday night, beating the No. 18 Florida State Seminoles 28-22 at Doak Campbell Stadium to open Atlantic Coast Conference play and continue padding their College Football Playoff resume.
The win moves Miami to 5-0 on the season and gives the Hurricanes their third ranked win of season after wins over Notre Dame and USF earlier this year. It’s the first time UM has beaten three ranked opponents in a season since 2009.
“A big-time win for us,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said.
And good luck trying to pick one individual standout contributor for the Hurricanes — exactly how Miami wants it — after they FSU in Tallahassee for the first time since 2019 and are making a legitimate case to be the No. 1 team in the country.
Quarterback Carson Beck bounced back from his shaky outing against Florida by completing 20 of 27 passes for 241 yards and four touchdowns.
“He was on fire,” Cristobal said.
Added Beck: “I felt really good. I thought our bye week, we got to work and we fixed a lot of little things. Still so much room for improvement.”
True freshman Malachi Toney and sixth-year senior CJ Daniels each caught two touchdowns. Toney, who finished with a team-high seven catches and 107 receiving yards, appeared to have a third but it was negated by a penalty.
“It means a lot,” Toney, who leads the Hurricanes with 29 catches and 375 yards, said, “but this team makes it easy. They trusted me.”
The offensive line, touted as one of the team’s biggest strengths, handled business up front with Miami only giving up four tackles for loss and one sack.
The defense held an FSU offense that entered the game leading the nation in yards per game (600) and points per game (53) while ranking second in rushing yards per game (336.25) to just 404 yards (including 132 rushing) and the 19 points.
The Hurricanes forced a season-high three turnovers, with safeties Bryce Fitzgerald and Jakobe Thomas recording interceptions against FSU quarterback Tommy Castellanos and nickel corner Keionte Scott recovering a fumble. Scott led Miami with nine tackles, while Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. lived in the backfield. Thomas had two pass breakups in addition to his interception.
“Complementary football,” Mesidor said.
It all led to Miami taking a 21-3 lead at halftime, building it up to 28-3 through three quarters and holding on despite a late push from FSU (3-2, 0-2 ACC).
FSU opened scoring after a 70-yard march down the field on the opening drive. The Seminoles broke off consecutive big plays to get deep into Miami territory before the Hurricanes’ defense held firm late to limit Florida State to a 23-yard Jake Weinberg field goal.
The Seminoles made things interesting with 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
The first came with 10:04 left to play on a Castellanos 8-yard touchdown pass to Miami Central alumnus Lawayne McCoy to cap a 10-play, 47-yard scoring drive to cut Miami’s led to 28-11.
One drive later, FSU went 96 yards on 19 plays — including three fourth-down conversions — with Castellanos capping the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Randy Pittman Jr. to move the Seminoles within 28-19 with 3:22 left to play.
And then FSU kicked a 35-yard field goal with 20 seconds left to get the game to 28-22, but their onside kick attempt — like the two after each touchdown attempt — failed.
On the seven drives in between the FSU field goal and its first touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, the Seminoles had just 146 yards — an average of just under 21 yards per drive — with four punts and the three turnovers as Miami built up its lead.
“They run a tempo offense, which is always going to be tricky because you’ve got to line up and get the call and read your keys and line up and play,” Mesidor said. “They’re an offense that does a bunch of trickery, a bunch of shifts. You have to play with your eyes. We knew that coming into the game, but we were prepared for it. You saw it in the first three quarters; we attacked it pretty well. Then we kind of fell off.”
The Hurricanes are off next week before hosting Louisville on Oct. 17.
This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 11:17 PM.
.JPG)