‘It’s the adversity that defines you’: Hurricanes eye rebound against Stanford
The Miami Hurricanes made sure not to sulk for too long.
“We took 24 hours,” offensive lineman Markel Bell said.
They made sure to get back to work.
“There’s no reason to panic,” running back Mark Fletcher Jr. said.
And they made sure to remember that there’s still so much ahead of them.
“We’re not letting last week define us,” safety Zechariah Poyser said.
Last week was the Hurricanes’ first setback of what has the potential to be a promising season. Miami was upset by the Louisville Cardinals after starting the season with five consecutive wins.
It was a loss, yes.
But the season is not lost yet, not if the Hurricanes can get back on track and make sure the Louisville game was just a blip on the radar and not the start of the spirals that have doomed other recent Miami teams that had hot starts before fizzling out when it mattered the most.
That starts Saturday when the No. 9 Hurricanes (5-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) host the Stanford Cardinal (3-4, 2-2 ACC) in the first ever meeting between the teams. Kickoff from Hard Rock Stadium is set for 7 p.m., with the game broadcast on ESPN.
“I think we’ll bounce back,” Poyser said. “It’s the adversity that defines you.”
For their part, the Hurricanes have said all the right things leading up to the Stanford game.
Everybody took a “hard look” at what went wrong last week, nickel cornerback Keionte Scott said — and there was a lot to look at. On offense, the run game was ineffective for a second consecutive week and quarterback Carson Beck threw a career-high four interceptions. On defense, the quick passing game neutralized the pass rush and missed tackles set the stage for allowing explosive plays. It led to Miami being down 14-0 in the first quarter and down by 11 early in the fourth quarter before a rally attempt that ultimately fell short.
“We didn’t play to the standard,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “We did not do our job. We didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t play well enough, we didn’t execute well enough, and we’ve won five games. We lost one game, and we got to keep improving to make sure we get our best chance to go be 1-0 this Saturday.”
But now that they have looked at it, they’re moving on. They have to. There’s still so much to play for over these final six weeks.
UM can still make the ACC Championship Game, although it will need some help considering three teams — Georgia Tech, Virginia and SMU — are undefeated in league play.
And Miami’s path to the 12-team College Football Playoff is still clear.
A reminder: There are only five undefeated Power 4 conference teams left entering this week in No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 7 Georgia Tech and No. 11 BYU.
“Every game is its own season,” center James Brockermeyer said. “Just because you win one week doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to win the next week. You see that with teams all over the country. You’ve got to be able to step up to the plate each and every week.”
Miami knows that.
But the Hurricanes also know that any chance to worry about things that far ahead start with making corrections this week as they host Stanford.
While Miami is a massive favorite, Stanford surprised considering their low expectations entering the season. It has already matched its win total from last season with five games left to play. That includes a thrilling 20-13 win over Florida State last week.
The Cardinal have a solid run game in the two-headed attack of Micah Ford and Cole Tabb (a combined 737 rushing yards and five touchdowns between them), but the defense is still among the bottom nationally in most major categories.
“We’ve just got to lock in,” Bell said. “No matter the outside circumstances, we’ve just got to lock in.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 10:33 AM.
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