{"id":341759,"date":"2026-07-16T05:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T05:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341759\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T05:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T05:08:11","slug":"acc-notebook-miami-enters-2026-determined-to-prove-title-run-was-no-fluke-field-level-media-professional-sports-content-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341759\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC notebook: Miami enters 2026 determined to prove title run was no fluke – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami came within one victory of completing its return to college football\u2019s biggest stage last season.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes\u2019 message entering 2026, however, is that getting close does not mean they have arrived.<\/p>\n

At the Atlantic Coast Conference Kickoff media event in Charlotte on Wednesday, Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal pushed back against any suggestion that last season\u2019s run to the national championship game represented the completion of the program\u2019s rebuild.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got to shut up and work because we haven\u2019t proven anything yet,\u201d Cristobal said.<\/p>\n

Miami has improved in each of Cristobal\u2019s four seasons, going from 5-7 in 2022 to 13-3 last year, when it entered the College Football Playoff as the final at-large selection before winning three games and losing 27-21 to Indiana in the title game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re winning more, and we feel like we\u2019re just getting started,\u201d Cristobal said.<\/p>\n

Maintaining that progress will require another successful quarterback transition. Darian Mensah, who transferred from ACC champion Duke, follows Cam Ward and Carson Beck as the third veteran transfer to take over the Hurricanes\u2019 offense in as many seasons.<\/p>\n

Mensah led the ACC with 3,973 passing yards and 34 touchdowns last season. He said watching Ward and Beck succeed in offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson\u2019s system helped sell him on Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my team,\u201d Mensah said. \u201cThis is my offense. I\u2019m excited to go compete with the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes open the season Sept. 4 at Stanford.<\/p>\n

\u2013ACC changes championship game tiebreaker<\/p>\n

The ACC has revised its tiebreaking procedure after last season\u2019s five-team second-place logjam resulted in Duke reaching the conference championship game instead of a higher-ranked Miami team.<\/p>\n

Head-to-head results will remain the primary tiebreaker. If teams are still tied after that, the conference will use the Team Success Ranking developed by SportSource Analytics, a measurement designed to compare each team\u2019s overall body of work.<\/p>\n

The change comes as the ACC moves to a nine-game conference schedule. Twelve teams will play nine league games this season, while five will play eight because of previously scheduled nonconference matchups. The conference said teams will not receive an excessive advantage or penalty based on the number of ACC games they play.<\/p>\n

Duke advanced last season through the fifth tiebreaker, conference opponents\u2019 winning percentage, after five teams finished tied for second place.<\/p>\n

With each Power 4 champion now guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff, commissioner Jim Phillips said the league needed a system more likely to place its strongest two teams in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to do everything you can to position your championship game with those two best teams,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cHead-to-head matters. That\u2019s always most important. Then we will look at the grouping and how teams fared. It will come down to body of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Pressure mounting on Norvell, Florida State<\/p>\n

Florida State coach Mike Norvell did not try to sugarcoat the pressure of his seventh season.<\/p>\n

The Seminoles are 7-17 over the past two years, a stunning reversal after they won 19 consecutive games and started 13-0 as ACC champions in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn reality, the words don\u2019t matter, it\u2019s about the action,\u201d Norvell said. \u201cThat\u2019s our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norvell believes Florida State has the elements to improve after 19 true freshmen appeared in at least four games last season. He also highlighted the defense entering its second year under coordinator Tony White and the recent addition of former Texas coach Tom Herman to the staff.<\/p>\n

The Seminoles showed flashes during a 5-7 season in 2025, including an opening win over Alabama, but struggled to close out several tight games. Norvell said the program\u2019s previous climb provides a blueprint, even if repeating it will require more than a persuasive offseason speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two years, as college football has changed, continuing to evolve, we have to be better,\u201d Norvell said. \u201cThis past season we showed glimpses of playing at a very high level. Big wins, some great moments, but also had some disappointing results in some close games and opportunities we did not capitalize on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Virginia names Pribula starting quarterback<\/p>\n

Virginia removed one question from its preseason checklist when coach Tony Elliott confirmed Missouri transfer Beau Pribula will begin the season as the starting quarterback.<\/p>\n

Pribula beat out fellow transfer Eli Holstein after passing for 1,941 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions while adding 297 yards and six scores on the ground in 10 games for the Tigers last season.<\/p>\n

Elliott said Pribula earned the job based on his full body of work and informed the team of the decision at the beginning of the summer.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers, who won double-digit games for the first time since 1989 and reached last season\u2019s ACC championship game, open at home against NC State on Aug. 29, a game which was originally slated to be played in Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u2013Field Level Media<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami came within one victory of completing its return to college football\u2019s biggest stage last season. The Hurricanes\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-341759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}