Cote: Everything’s possible for No. 3 Hurricanes after 28-22 win at FSU | Opinion
This might have been the night the Miami Hurricanes finally lost.
The game was at the rival Florida State Seminoles in that raucous din in Tallahassee. It was Miami’s first road trip of the season. And the Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Two top-10 teams, Penn State and Texas, had already lost on Saturday. Then the Canes fell behind early — their first deficit all season as that Tomahawk Chop chant serenaded the night.
But that feeling that this might be the night UM finally lost — it disappeared just like the noise eventually did in Doak Campbell Stadium.
The now 5-0, No. 3-ranked Hurricanes didn’t escape this night with a win, they dominated in prime time for much of the game and humbled No. 18 Florida State, 28-22. It was 28-3 before FSU’s late surge.
“A big-time win for us, on the road against a top 20 team, finding a way to get it done,” coach Mario Cristobal said afterward. “All in all just a tremendous effort. Had a chance to really put it away and we didn’t. But our guys found a way to win. We’re state champs.”
It was in many ways UM’s most impressive victory in a season that is stacking those ... a season that now looks like even a 12-0 record is possible ... and like an ACC championship is, too. A season that looks like even Miami’s long-awaited sixth national championship is emerging as a gettable goal.
Miami is now 3-0 against ranked opponents this season after Cristobal’s first road win over a ranked foe in his fourth season back at his alma mater.
What’s possible now for the Canes is simply this: Everything imaginable.
Miami’s defense at one point stopped the Seminoles on seven drives in a row with four punts and three turnovers and held FSU to a season-low 22 points. The Noles had rushed for at least 230 yards in all four games before Miami held them 132 yards and a 3.5 average.
“Our guys up fron [on defense], they won it, they won it, they won it,” Cristobal said.
Miami’s defense after that first series completely owned a Seminoles offense that had been averaging a surreal 53 points per game, until FSU’s desperate late scores. The Canes forced three FSU turnovers including two interceptions. Offensively Carson Beck was brilliant and threw four touchdown passes, two apiece to C.J. Daniels and Malachi Toney, the instant-impact true freshman.
At one point the ABC cameras showed a celebrating Beck on the field counting on his fingers, “1-2-3-4...” ... as in scoring passes.
“We can be so much better,” Beck said afterward. “Still so much left out there.”
Daniels after both of his TDs sought out the TV cameras just outside the end zone and merrily mocked FSU’s famous war chant, an echo of the swagger of Canes teams past. Iconic former receiver Michael Irvin, on the sideline, loved it..
It didn’t sit as well with Cristobal, although you have to figure any admonishment to Daniels might come with a small smile.
Asked if he encouraged that, “No we don’t,” the coach said. “We’re pushing Miami football to modern-day football. I don’t encrage that stuff. We’re not watching ‘80s and ‘90s film.”
Florida State had taken the opening kickoff and drove unstopped until settling for a 23-yard field goal and 3-0 lead. The Noles’ fast-pace offense had the Canes on their heels. It was UM’s first time trailing all season.
But not for long.
Miami led 7-0 on Daniels’ 4-yard scoring toss from Beck in a seres that also featured Daniels’s 47-yard catch.
A UM interception and 43-yard return by true freshman Bryce Fitzgerald then led to a 14-3 lead on a 44-yard Beck touchdown pass to Toney, who favored the Noles’ home crowd with a “Shhhh” gesture, his index finger against his facemask.
After a Canes fumble recovery by Keionte Scott it might have been 21-3, but an another apparent long TD pass to Toney was negated by an illegal motion penalty.
Miami went into the half with momentum and with the sellout crow in Tallahassee muted.
“We started doing very well after that first series,” understated Cristobal as he left the field at the half.
The coach’s go-for-it call on fourth-and-2 from the FSU 40 underlined the victory as he confidently eschewed a very long field-goal try or a short punt. Toney’s 40-yard TD catch-and-run followed.
Jakobe Thomas’ interception for Miami followed that, leading to Daniels turning a screen pass into a 24-yard score.
FSU would not cross the goal line untl 10 minutes remained, adding a two-point conversion to draw within 28-11, then scoring late with another two-point add-on..
Cristobal had been ebullient two weeks prior (before a bye week) in beating the rival Florida Gators.
Saturday night’s sweep of the state series was even sweeter.
Cristobal has known this rivalry since his playing days helping win two national titles for the Canes in 1989 and ‘91 as an offensive lineman.
“We always knew this as the best rivalry in football coming up,” he said of FSU. “College football is the best sport in the world so the fact that people bring up historical moments and whatnot, it’s not surprising. I do think that our players, alumni, they all understand how intense this rivalry is.”
That it was the conference opener also made it special as UM angles for what would be its first ACC championship.
“Conference play is basically playoff football,” he said. “Everybody’s alive, everybody’s vying for a spot. So the margins for error, the margins between winning and not winning, become smaller and smaller. ... I think that’s the best part of college football at this time of year. You’re getting everybody’s best and you’re giving everybody your best.”
FSU coach Mike Norvell had said, “You’ll see a sold-out Doak Campbell Stadium, nighttime, prime time. It’s a wonderful stage to be able to show this team who we are, what we’re about, and the response that we’re going to have.”
Instead, it was the Miami Hurricanes who showed all of that to a national audience, and to any doubters who might still stubborny remain.
UM appeared to let up a bit at 28-3; still, 5-0 is its own irrefutable bottom line, and no currentely ranked opponents are left on Miami’s schedule.
What’s left for the Hurricanes this season is ... everything imaginable.
This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 11:35 PM.
