Miami 52-23 Pitt: No. 1 Canes Put on a Show for the 2001 Legends

After weeks of midnight kick offs, 4am finishes and tactical naps, Miami finally gave me a gift.

A 5pm UK kick off.

Perfect.

Naturally, my wife decided she wanted a Chinese takeaway and invited family round, while I’d also agreed to go to a 40th birthday party later in the evening.

So instead of sitting comfortably in front of the TV watching the No. 1 team in the country, part of my first quarter was spent watching Miami on my phone in the local Chinese takeaway and then in the car with my brother-in-law.

By the second quarter I’d made it back home and managed to watch most of the action properly on the TV. For the third, I had Miami radio commentary while driving to the party. The fourth quarter became phone updates, and I didn’t actually see the second half properly until I got home later.

Then came the usual Sunday rewatch.

A complete mess as a viewing experience.

Thankfully, Miami were considerably more organised than I was.

The Hurricanes celebrated their first game as the nation’s No. 1 team by beating Pittsburgh 52-23, moving to 7-0 and 5-0 in the ACC.

And unlike Florida State a week earlier, this one never really felt in doubt.

A Much Calmer Saturday

There was something slightly strange about watching Miami after the chaos of the Florida State game.

A week earlier, the Canes had needed two overtimes, a Malachi Toney trick play and a Bryce Fitzgerald interception to survive their biggest rival.

Against Pitt, Miami looked much more like the team we’d seen during the first month of the season.

Controlled.

Efficient.

And, once the offence got moving, far too good for the opposition.

The Canes forced a three-and-out on Pitt’s opening possession and then put together a 12-play drive that finished with a 40-yard Jake Weinberg field goal.

3-0.

Not spectacular.

But Miami were already taking control of the game.

By the end of the first quarter it was 10-0 after Darian Mensah found Toney for a 19-yard touchdown.

Somewhere between ordering food and sitting in a car trying to keep up on my phone, the Canes were quietly making sure this wasn’t going to become another four-hour stress test.

Much appreciated.

Miami Break It Open Before Half Time

The second quarter was the part I actually managed to watch properly, and thankfully Miami saved some of their best football for it.

Javian Mallory scored from 16 yards early in the quarter to make it 17-0.

Pitt eventually responded through Damon Ferguson Jr., cutting the lead to 17-7, but any hope that the Panthers might drag themselves back into the game disappeared fairly quickly.

Mensah found Toney for a 53-yard touchdown.

24-7.

Then Miami’s defence created another opportunity.

Freshman JJ Dunnigan forced a fumble, Justin Scott recovered it, and Mensah turned the short field into another touchdown, finding tight end Gavin Mueller from three yards out.

31-7 at half-time.

That was pretty much the point where I could start getting ready for the birthday party without constantly wondering whether I’d return to my phone and find Miami had somehow thrown the game away.

After Florida State, that felt like progress.

Malachi Toney Was Ridiculous Again

There are games where you have to think quite carefully about Player of the Game.

This isn’t one of them.

Malachi Toney finished with:

16 catches.
194 yards.
Three touchdowns.

Sixteen receptions is a new Miami single-game record.

The previous record was 13.

One of the players who had previously held it?

Malachi Toney.

Against Pitt last season.

At this point, I’m running out of different ways to describe how good he is.

The hands are ridiculous.

He finds space.

Mensah trusts him.

And when Miami needs a play on third down or in the red zone, the ball increasingly seems to end up somewhere near No. 10.

The 53-yard touchdown in the second quarter was the obvious highlight, but the volume of his involvement tells the bigger story.

Pitt came into the game with one of the best run defences in the country.

So Miami adjusted.

Instead of repeatedly trying to smash into the strength of the Panthers’ defence, Mensah went through the air.

And Toney made them pay.

Mensah Picks Pitt Apart

Darian Mensah’s performance deserves plenty of credit too.

He completed 31 of 37 passes for 387 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

After throwing his first interception of the season against Florida State, this was exactly the sort of response you’d want.

No panic.

No forcing things unnecessarily.

Just consistently putting the football where it needed to be.

Miami converted 10 of 15 third downs, and for much of the game Mensah seemed to have an answer whenever Pitt threatened to get the defence off the field.

The connection with Toney was obviously the headline, but this wasn’t a completely one-dimensional passing game either.

Vandrevius Jacobs had 50 yards.

Cooper Barkate had 32.

Daylyn Upshaw had 31.

Elija Lofton and Somourian Wingo both contributed.

Even Mark Fletcher Jr. got involved with a 16-yard reception.

Pitt entered the afternoon with an aggressive defence capable of creating turnovers.

Miami gave them none.

That’s probably the most satisfying part.

What Happened to Pitt’s Run Defence?

This was one of the matchups I was most interested in before kick off.

Pitt had been allowing only 57.3 rushing yards per game, one of the best figures in college football.

Miami finished with 119.

It wasn’t a dominant rushing performance. The Canes averaged only 3.1 yards per carry, and Pitt’s front did make them work.

But Miami didn’t need to dominate on the ground.

They just needed enough.

Mallory finished with 47 yards and scored twice.

Fletcher added 41 yards and another touchdown.

And when Pitt committed resources to stopping them, Miami simply went elsewhere.

That’s what good offences are supposed to do.

The days where the entire plan falls apart because Plan A isn’t working should be behind this programme.

Pitt slowed the run.

Fine.

Mensah threw for 387 instead.

Fletcher Keeps Climbing the Record Book

There was another milestone for Mark Fletcher Jr. early in the third quarter.

His two-yard touchdown made it 38-7 and gave him 33 career rushing touchdowns for Miami, moving him into outright second place on the Hurricanes’ all-time list.

Only Stephen McGuire now sits ahead of him.

Fletcher needs three more to take the record.

Considering the concern about his hand after the Florida State game, just seeing him available was encouraging.

Then he added another piece of Miami history.

Not a bad afternoon.

The Defence Responds After Florida State

Last week, I came away from the FSU game with one major concern.

Explosive plays.

Miami gave up too many of them, particularly on screens, and Duce Robinson’s 75-yard touchdown almost turned a game the Canes appeared to have won into a defeat.

Against Pitt, the defence looked much more controlled.

The Panthers finished with only 69 rushing yards, averaging 2.7 yards per carry.

That was the bit I particularly liked.

Pitt’s quarterback situation was already difficult without Mason Heintschel, so allowing them to establish the run would have been the easiest way to make life unnecessarily complicated.

Miami didn’t.

Holden Geriner threw for 268 yards and Cataurus Hicks produced 149 receiving yards, including a 36-yard touchdown in the third quarter, so this wasn’t a perfect defensive performance.

Pitt actually finished with 403 total yards.

But context matters.

By the time the Panthers started finding more success, Miami were already well in front.

The defence also created the first half fumble that helped turn 24-7 into 31-7 before the break.

JJ Dunnigan continues to look like a freshman who does not particularly care that he’s a freshman.

Five tackles.

A sack.

A forced fumble.

He’s becoming difficult to ignore.

Following the Third Quarter by Radio

This was probably the strangest part of my afternoon.

By the start of the second half I was heading to the birthday party, so the TV disappeared and Miami radio took over.

There’s something very different about following a college football game through radio commentary when you’ve spent the season watching almost every snap.

Suddenly every pause sounds more dramatic.

Every third down feels like it takes twice as long.

And you’re trying to picture what’s happening while also concentrating on the road.

Thankfully, Miami made it fairly straightforward.

Fletcher’s touchdown made it 38-7 almost immediately after half-time.

Pitt answered through Hicks to make it 38-14.

Then Miami did exactly what you want a No. 1 team to do when an opponent shows a little life.

They responded.

The Canes put together an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock, with Mallory scoring his second touchdown from two yards.

45-14.

That felt like the moment the game was completely done.

Even through a car radio.

No Drama Required in the Fourth

By the fourth quarter I’d reached the party, which meant following the rest through phone updates.

Again, not ideal.

But at 45-14, considerably less stressful than doing the same thing during a one-score game.

Toney completed his ridiculous afternoon with an 11-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

52-14.

From there, Pitt added a safety and a late Corey Dailey touchdown pass to Cam Sapp, but those points didn’t change anything meaningful.

Final score:

Miami 52, Pittsburgh 23.

Seven games.

Seven wins.

And for once I didn’t need overtime, a replay review or somebody making a miracle play in the end zone.

Lovely.

About That Prediction…

My preseason prediction was 31-24 Miami.

By the time I wrote the match preview, I’d moved it to 31-13.

The actual result?

52-23.

So I’ve somehow managed to underestimate Miami’s offence and Pitt’s offence at the same time.

Impressive.

I expected Pitt’s defence to make this one awkward.

For a while, it did.

But Miami showed exactly why having multiple ways to win matters.

Pitt came in determined to stop the run.

Mensah and Toney simply went around them.

I’ll take being wrong like that every week.

A Fitting Day for the 2001 Team

There couldn’t have been a much better afternoon to celebrate the 2001 National Championship team.

Ed Reed, Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey, Andre Johnson, Brett Romberg, Joaquin Gonzalez and plenty of other members of that legendary group were back at Hard Rock.

Miami wore throwback uniforms inspired by that team.

And the current Hurricanes went out and scored 52 points while sitting No. 1 in the country.

Nobody needs to start comparing the 2026 Hurricanes with the 2001 team.

That would be ridiculous.

The 2001 group is one of the greatest teams college football has ever seen.

But there was something undeniably nice about seeing so many of those players back in the building on the weekend Miami finally returned to the top of the rankings.

The past was being celebrated.

The current team made sure nobody forgot about the present.

The Last Word from Across the Pond

I spent part of the first quarter watching on my phone in a Chinese takeaway.

Part of it in a car with my brother-in-law.

The second quarter on the TV.

The third listening to Miami radio while driving to a 40th birthday party.

And the fourth refreshing my phone.

So naturally Miami chose this week to produce one of their most comfortable performances of the season.

Typical.

I watched the second half properly when I got home and then did the usual full Sunday rewatch this morning.

My conclusion didn’t change.

Miami were simply too good.

Toney was ridiculous.

Mensah was brilliant.

The defence bounced back.

The 2001 legends got their celebration.

And the No. 1 team in the country moved to 7-0.

Next time, though, I wouldn’t mind actually watching all four quarters live.

Go Canes.