No. 5 Miami are 3-0.
The Hurricanes left Winston-Salem with a 33-20 win over Wake Forest, moving to 2-0 in the ACC and passing their first genuinely uncomfortable test of the season.
This Across the Pond Daily is a brief overview of last night’s game, with the full match report to follow on the site later.
And make no mistake, this was different.
Stanford were brushed aside.
FAMU were overwhelmed.
Wake Forest pushed back.
That made this Miami’s most useful win yet.
Miami had to solve a real problem for the first time
For much of the night, it looked like another comfortable Miami performance.
Darian Mensah led the Hurricanes into a 31-7 advantage midway through the third quarter and Miami seemed to be cruising towards another routine win.
Then the game changed.
The offence, which had looked almost automatic through the first two weeks, suddenly stalled. Miami produced four straight three-and-outs, Wake Forest found some rhythm and the lead was cut to 31-20 with almost the entire fourth quarter still to play.
For the first time this season, Miami had a proper problem.
The response mattered.
And this time it was the defence that won the game.
The Hurricanes produced four straight fourth-quarter stops, including a safety created by pressure on Gio Lopez, a fourth-down stop at the Miami 13, another failed fourth-down attempt forced by freshman JJ Dunnigan’s pressure, and then Ethan O’Connor’s late red-zone interception to finish it.
It was not perfect.
But Miami were tested, and they still found a way to win by 13 on the road.
That is a valuable step for this team.
Darian Mensah made ACC history again
Even on a night where Miami’s offence lost its rhythm late on, Mensah still managed to do something extraordinary.
He completed his first 24 passes of the night, breaking the ACC single-game record for consecutive completions.
Combined with how he finished against FAMU, that also gave him 35 straight completions across multiple games, another ACC record.
He eventually finished 30 of 34 for 220 yards and three touchdowns.
Through three games as Miami’s quarterback, Mensah has now completed 71 of 79 passes, which works out at 89.9 per cent, with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Those are ridiculous numbers.
Joshua Moore opened the scoring with a touchdown catch, Elija Lofton added another, and Malachi Toney found the end zone as Miami built that commanding lead.
It was not quite the spectacular statistical night of Stanford, but it was still another reminder that Mensah has given Miami exactly what it hoped for and perhaps a bit more.
The injuries are the biggest concern coming out of this one
The result was good.
The late defensive response was good.
The bigger worry is what Miami brought home with it.
Mark Fletcher Jr. and Malachi Toney were both among the players to leave with injuries, while Ahmad Moten Sr. briefly went off before returning.
The most concerning moment involved CharMar Brown.
Brown broke a 32-yard run in the second quarter before going down near the goal line. He received treatment on his right knee, was helped off and later carted towards the tunnel.
At the time of writing, there is no confirmed diagnosis, so there is no point speculating.
But that is clearly the biggest storyline to watch now.
Miami already came into this game carrying injury concerns, especially in the secondary. Leaving Winston-Salem with more key names needing assessment is not ideal, and the updates over the next few days may matter more than anything else from the box score.
The Last Word from Across the Pond
This may turn out to be Miami’s most valuable win so far.
The Hurricanes finally got pushed, lost their offensive rhythm for a long stretch, picked up some worrying injuries and still left with a 33-20 ACC road win.
Mensah made conference history, the defence shut the door when it had to, and Miami are now 3-0 with another conference win already banked.
There is plenty to work on, especially that second-half offensive drop-off, and the injury news could shape the next week.
But good teams are not going to dominate every game from start to finish.
Sometimes they have to get uncomfortable and finish the job anyway.
Miami did that last night.
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