The ACC handed Miami a chance to shine on a Friday night, and instead the league delivered a half-empty Stanford Stadium and a missed opportunity.
The Hurricanes showed up with plenty of their own support, but the local turnout was thin when Miami faced Stanford in a 6 p.m. local kickoff on Friday night, which meant 9 p.m. ET.
It was an odd setup from the start, and the crowd at kickoff reflected that. Miami fans did their part.
Stanford’s side of the building did not.
The visitors wasted no time making noise on the field. Miami’s defense opened with a 3-and-out, and the offense followed with a quick drive that ended in a touchdown pass from Darian Mensah to Malachi Toney. It took just 1:40 for Miami to get on the board, a strong start that matched the energy of the fan base making the trip.
The broader frustration, though, is with the conference decision-making. The ACC keeps finding ways to make life harder on itself, and putting Miami in a Friday night showcase against Stanford was always a strange call.
In a league with limited national appeal, this was supposed to be one of the better windows to put a team like the Hurricanes in front of a wide audience. Instead, the stadium looked underfilled when the game kicked off.
That’s part of a larger pattern. The ACC’s plan to stage a game in Brazil drew immediate pushback, and the better fit would have been Miami against a more travel-friendly opponent such as Cal.
Instead, NC State vs. Virginia was the game the league pushed for foreign soil before it was eventually moved to Charlottesville.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal has already made his feelings clear about Friday games and the way college football is being spread across the week.
"I would start with simplicity. I would make all college football games on Saturday,,"
"I do believe Friday nights are sacred when it comes to high school ball."
Miami has more Friday and Thursday action coming soon, including a Thursday night home game next week against Florida A&M and another Friday matchup in a few weeks against Wake Forest. For the ACC, Friday nights are an easy way to land in primetime. But that doesn’t mean the audience will always be there, and it certainly didn’t help that Stanford Stadium was only half full.
Miami brought the energy. The league did not match it.
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