But after the win, Mensah – like his coach – was focused on how the Hurricanes can continue improving.

“I think it’s just a testament to my o-line. I think they played an excellent game up front,” Mensah said of his record-breaking numbers. “But to be honest, I can’t even be that happy about it with how the second half went. …

“You’ve just got to rely on your teammates. I think we did that offensively. Our defense played a huge game in the second half, got huge fourth-down stops, so huge kudos to them. But yean, we’ve just got to be better offensively, execute better and I’ve got to be better on early downs.”

While Wake Forest held the Hurricanes (3-0, 2-0 ACC) to just one-second half score, Miami opened the game the way it opened its first two: with a touchdown.

The Hurricanes took the opening kick and marched down the field on a methodical, 14-play, 92-yard drive that took 7:33 off the clock and ended when Mensah connected with Joshua Moore on a 9-yard scoring pass.

Wake Forest, though, answered.

The Demon Deacons (2-1, 0-1) became the first opposing offense to score on the Miami defense this season, capping an 11-play, 75-yard drive when quarterback Gio Lopez connected with Kamrean Johnson on a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Then came Miami’s offensive barrage.

The Hurricanes scored 24 unanswered points and pushed their lead to 31-7 with 8:56 left in the third quarter while Mensah continued his ascent in both the Miami and ACC record books.

First came the 21-yard touchdown pass to Elija Lofton. Then Fletcher scored on a 1-yard run. That was followed by a 27-yard field goal from Jake Weinberg just before halftime.

And on Miami’s first drive of the second half, Mensah tossed a 2-yard scoring pass to Toney that sent a good number of Wake Forest fans to the exits.

Those fans would miss the Demon Deacons’ attempt at a comeback.

Wake Forest scored a pair of unanswered touchdowns to cut the deficit to 31-20 after Lopez engineered a pair of scoring drives that ended with the signal caller completing scoring passes to Jack Foley and Carlos Hernandez.

Lopez finished the night completing 29 of 46 passes for 312 yards with three touchdowns.

Miami’s offense, meanwhile, struggled to find the same rhythm it had in the first half.

The Hurricanes were forced to punt on four consecutive second-half possessions and had a field goal blocked on another one of their drives.