A Look Back…

Courtesy of Miami Athletics:

Each week this season, we’ll take a look at the game that was for the Hurricanes.

Here are some key storylines, numbers of note, and quotes from Miami’s 43-35 double overtime win over rival Florida State on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium.

With the win, the Hurricanes improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in conference play. They remain atop the ACC standings and moved up two spots to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 rankings. It marks Miami’s first time atop the poll since 2002.

Florida State, meanwhile, fell to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

The Recap

Heading into Saturday night’s rivalry matchup against the Seminoles, the Hurricanes made it clear: they understood full well that when Miami and Florida State meet, records and rankings often carry little weight.

So, while the Seminoles may have come into Saturday’s game after disappointing losses to SMU, Alabama and Louisville, Miami’s coaches and players expected Florida State to find ways to make big plays and push to try and upset the favored Hurricanes.

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And that’s exactly what happened.

Every time Miami scored, Florida State answered. And every time Florida State scored, Miami answered.

The longtime rivals traded possessions and touchdowns until late in the fourth quarter.

With 2:49 left, Miami tight end Elija Lofton caught a 3-yard scoring pass from quarterback Darian Mensah to give the Hurricanes a 28-21 lead.

It was a score that sent many of the 66,790 fans that filled Hard Rock Stadium into a wild celebration, but the Hurricanes’ lead didn’t last long.

On Florida State’s ensuing possession, Seminoles quarterback Ashton Daniels hit Duce Robinson on a 75-yard scoring play that tied the game again after the extra point and sent the game into overtime.

It’s just the second time in the storied rivalry’s 71-year history that the Hurricanes and Seminoles have needed extra time to decide things.

Florida State struck first in the first overtime with Daniels and Robinson connecting again, this time on a 20-yard scoring play.

Miami answered with a 25-yard rushing touchdown from Javian Mallory, and then the Hurricanes regained the lead in the second overtime thanks to one of their homegrown stars.

Sophomore Malachi Toney, Miami’s leading receiver, caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Mensah. Then, on Miami’s 2-point conversion attempt it was Toney who threw the ball into the end zone, finding fellow receiver Cooper Barkateto give the Hurricanes the lead for good.

On Florida State’s ensuing possession, Miami’s Omar Thornton sacked Daniels and the Hurricanes forced two incompletions, setting up a fourth-and-21 situation.

Daniels heaved the ball into the end zone, where it was caught by Micahi Danhy, but a holding penalty negated the would-be touchdown. One play later, on fourth-and-31, Bryce Fitzgerald intercepted Daniels, ending the game and keeping the Hurricanes unbeaten.

“Credit to Florida State,” Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal said. “And then credit to our guys, because I could sit here and rattle off a million mistakes and errors that we need to correct, but we just kept playing. We just kept battling, just kept finding a way until we finally got the momentum and made a couple plays that were the difference in the game.”

Numbers to Know

32 – Career touchdowns for running back Mark Fletcher Jr., who opened the scoring for the Hurricanes on Saturday. That tied Fletcher for second with Edgerrin James on Miami’s all-time rushing touchdowns list. Fletcher finished with 66 rushing yards.

193 – All-purpose yards for Malachi Toney against Florida State. The sophomore did a little bit of everything for the Hurricanes on Saturday, catching 11 passes for a game-high 154 receiving yards, rushing twice for another 31 yards, posting an eight-yard punt return, scoring twice and throwing a 2-point conversion pass in the second overtime.

2 – Turnovers forced by the Miami defense. The first – a fumble forced by Ethan O’Connor and recovered by Xavier Lucas – led to a fourth-quarter touchdown for the Hurricanes. The second, an interception by Bryce Fitzgerald on the game’s final play, clinched the win for Miami.

108 – Rushing yards for freshman running back Javian Mallory, who led the Hurricanes against Florida State on Saturday. Mallory also had two touchdowns and averaged 8.3 yards per carry.

80.8 – Completion percentage on the season for Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah. He remains the nation’s leader in that category and his average of 294.0 passing yards per game rank fifth nationally. His 18 touchdowns are tied for fourth nationally, and his 203.94 quarterback rating is also tops in the nation.

Up Next

With their annual rivalry game behind them, the Hurricanes will now turn their focus to another conference opponent: Pittsburgh.

The Panthers started the season the season with five straight wins, but have lost two straight after starting quarterback Mason Heintschel was lost for the season with a torn ACL in the team’s Oct. 2 win over Virginia Tech.

Freshman quarterback Corey Dailey made his first career start for the Panthers in Saturday’s 27-21 loss at Boston College and completed 11 of 25 passes for 193 yards with two interceptions and a touchdown.

Pittsburgh did jump out to a 12-0 lead against the Eagles, but Boston College rallied for the win after the Panthers were penalized 13 times for 133 yards.

The Hurricanes and Panthers, old BIG EAST foes, have met 43 times and Miami holds a 30-12-1 lead in the all-time series. Last season, the Hurricanes notched a 38-7 win in Pittsburgh to cap a four-game win streak at the end of the regular season.

That win streak helped put Miami in the College Football Playoff.

GO CANES!