{"id":409534,"date":"2026-09-24T19:10:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409534\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T19:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:10:22","slug":"no-6-miami-welcomes-central-michigan-to-hard-rock-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/409534\/","title":{"rendered":"No.6 Miami welcomes Central Michigan to Hard Rock Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>David Lebowitz, Photo Editor \/\/ Senior Running Back Mark Fletcher barrels through Wake Forest defenders on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026 at Allegacy Stadium in Winston Salem, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

This past weekend brought the college football world plenty of chaos. Ole Miss spoiled Lane Kiffin\u2019s return to Oxford with a 32-24 win over his new LSU brigade, while unranked Kentucky stunned No. 9 Texas A&M, 31-21, on the road.<\/p>\n

With conference play beginning to take over the schedule and ranked teams already proving vulnerable, this upcoming weekend could bring more of the same.<\/p>\n

After beating the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 33-20 on Friday night, the now-No. 6 ranked Hurricanes return to Hard Rock Stadium to welcome Central Michigan on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Miami enters the matchup 3-0 after surviving its closest game of the season against Wake Forest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes had outscored their first two opponents 122-13 before the Demon Deacons gave them their first real test of the year.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Darian Mensah was nearly perfect to start the game, completing his first 24 passes and setting Miami and ACC records for consecutive completions to begin a game. But the Hurricanes were forced to fight through injuries and a Wake Forest team that remained within striking distance before Miami ultimately pulled away in the end.<\/p>\n

Injuries could also complicate what otherwise appears to be a favorable matchup for Miami. The Hurricanes left Winston-Salem banged up after several players went down against Wake Forest, potentially testing Miami\u2019s depth as it prepares for its second game in eight days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if some of those injuries prove minor, Miami will have to balance getting healthy with avoiding a letdown against Central Michigan \u2014 particularly against a Chippewas offense that has shown it wears down a defense on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Chippewas arrive in Miami with some momentum of their own.<\/p>\n

Central Michigan improved to 2-1 Saturday with a 24-10 win over Wyoming, leaning almost entirely on a punishing ground game by rushing for 339 yards while attempting only seven passes, controlling possession for more than 35 minutes.<\/p>\n

At the center of that rushing attack is quarterback Angel Flores.<\/p>\n

The senior carried the ball 28 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns against Wyoming, one week after rushing for 122 yards and a touchdown in Central Michigan\u2019s 13-10 comeback win over Colgate.<\/p>\n

For a Miami defense coming off its first competitive four quarters of the season, containing Flores and Central Michigan\u2019s run-heavy offense will offer a different challenge.<\/p>\n

Saturday will mark just the second meeting between the two programs. Miami won the first, 17-12, at Hard Rock Stadium back in 2019.<\/p>\n

It will also be the Hurricanes\u2019 first Saturday game of the season after opening the year with games on Thursday and Friday nights.<\/p>\n

For Miami, the matchup represents an opportunity to remain undefeated before the heart of its ACC schedule arrives. For Central Michigan, it is a chance to test its ground-heavy identity against one of the nation\u2019s top-ranked teams.<\/p>\n

Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gregory Rousseau (15) sacks Central Michigan\u2019s quarterback and forces a turnover Photo credit: Josh Halper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Lebowitz, Photo Editor \/\/ Senior Running Back Mark Fletcher barrels through Wake Forest defenders on Friday, Sept.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-409534","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\/409534","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=409534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}