{"id":391441,"date":"2026-09-05T15:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/391441\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T15:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:20:19","slug":"mensah-toney-dominate-as-hurricanes-rout-stanford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/391441\/","title":{"rendered":"Mensah, Toney dominate as Hurricanes rout Stanford"},"content":{"rendered":"

STANFORD, Calif. \u2014 The Hurricanes needed all of one minute and 40 seconds to show off their new-look, high-powered offense.<\/p>\n

A 48-yard pass from Darian Mensah to Malachi Toney started the drive. It was followed by a short run by Mark Fletcher Jr. and a second pass to Toney before Mensah capped the drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Toney. It didn\u2019t take long, and Miami was off to the races. The Hurricanes never looked back, as Toney set a new program record<\/a> and Mensah excelled.<\/p>\n

No. 7 Miami (1-0, 1-0 ACC) rolled to a 45-6 win over the Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t draw it up any better,\u201d Mensah said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you want. You want to go out and punch a team in the mouth, and we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami followed up the first touchdown drive with a second. Center Ryan Rodriguez\u2019s snap to Mensah was high, but Mensah corralled it and fired it to Toney for a 2-yard score. The second touchdown extended the Hurricanes\u2019 lead to 14-3 (Stanford had kicked a field goal on its second drive of the game).<\/p>\n

Running back Marty Brown was the first Hurricane other than Toney to reach the end zone this season. He capped an eight-play, 89-yard drive with a 5-yard rushing touchdown, putting Miami ahead by 18 points midway through the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Toney continued to put on a show through the first half, finishing the second quarter with 182 yards and setting a career high in receiving yards before the first half was over. He helped the Hurricanes move down the field to score their fourth touchdown of the first half, which Mensah threw to sophomore receiver Daylyn Upshaw.<\/p>\n

Miami picked up right where it left off in the second half, with Mensah tossing his fourth touchdown of the game \u2014 this one for 34 yards \u2014 to fellow Duke transfer Cooper Barkate.<\/p>\n

Toney\u2019s third touchdown catch of the game put the Hurricanes ahead 42-6 in the third quarter, and with it, the sophomore set the Hurricanes\u2019 record for most receiving yards in a single game. The Hurricanes started subbing in their backups on the next drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot, knowing how many great played at this university,\u201d Toney said. \u201cJust for me to be the player to break that record and set a new one, it just means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami kicker Jake Weinberg closed out the scoring with a 46-yard field goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good to see our guys come out to take care of business, and (they) never took their foot off the gas,\u201d coach Mario Cristobal said.<\/p>\n

Five takeaways
\n1. Is Toney better than ever?<\/p>\n

In the first game of his sophomore year, Toney had his best performance ever. The second-year receiver set a career high in receiving yards before the first half was over.<\/p>\n

Toney ended the game with 12 catches and a Miami-record 234 yards. He scored three touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re leaving No. 1 one-on-one, it\u2019s a problem,\u201d Mensah said.<\/p>\n

2. Mensah impresses<\/p>\n

The new Miami quarterback did not disappoint in his debut. He got the Hurricanes off to a hot start with a quick touchdown drive on UM\u2019s first offensive opportunity of the season.<\/p>\n

He finished his Miami debut with 27 completions on 30 attempts, 401 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a dream come true, to be honest,\u201d Mensah said. \u201cLike I said earlier, I\u2019m just blessed to be in the position I\u2019m at, and it feels like it\u2019s just an honor to be the quarterback of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Offensive line a work in progress<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes trotted out their new-look offensive line,<\/a> replacing four starters who left for the NFL. UM started Samson Okunlola at left tackle, SJ Alofaituli at left guard, Ryan Rodriguez at center, Max Buchanan at right guard and Matthew McCoy at right tackle.<\/p>\n

But the Hurricanes also rotated players in and out. Former five-star prospect Jackson Cantwell played several drives at right guard.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s line was not perfect, allowing Mensah to get hit several times and sometimes failing to open holes for the running backs.<\/p>\n

4. Frederique leaves game<\/p>\n

Starting cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. left the game after starting the first drive and did not return. Damari Brown and Ethan O\u2019Connor filled his role for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n

The standout corner has dealt with injuries in the past, missing five games last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to check him out,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cObviously, (he) got banged up and had to pull him out the game. So hopefully, it\u2019s not too bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Defense bends but doesn\u2019t break<\/p>\n

Stanford quarterback Davis Warren performed admirably, finding holes in the Hurricanes\u2019 defense. He finished the game 21 of 41 for 214 yards. The Cardinal could have had more offense if not for multiple drops and offensive penalties that wiped out key plays.<\/p>\n

Although Warren had a solid game, Miami\u2019s defense kept Stanford out of the end zone. The Hurricanes limited Stanford to 5 of 16 on third and fourth downs.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Warren) nailed some unbelievable throws now under pressure,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cAnd they got in the red zone, and we were able to keep them out and force field goals and just kept getting the ball back and forcing punts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STANFORD, Calif. \u2014 The Hurricanes needed all of one minute and 40 seconds to show off their new-look,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,114,123,125,5079,124,110],"class_list":["post-391441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-college-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-hurricanes","tag-miami-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391441","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=391441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}