No. 4 Miami left Clemson with more than a 41-13 win. The Hurricanes walked out of Death Valley with another road statement, and they did it while piecing together a game that kept getting messier on the injury front.
That didn’t slow them down. Miami improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in ACC play, with three of those victories coming away from home.
The Canes leaned on Darian Mensah, who threw for 227 yards and accounted for two total touchdowns, while Cooper Barkate finished with 98 receiving yards and a score. Mark Fletcher Jr. added two rushing touchdowns in a game that turned into a fourth-quarter beatdown.
What stood out most was how Miami kept absorbing hits and still stayed in control. The Hurricanes were hit hard by injuries early, and Mario Cristobal made clear afterward that the list was long.
"We had a lot of guys go down," Cristobal said after the game. "It's an awful year for that for us, unfortunately.
Keep our guys in your prayers. Hopefully they'll heal up and be in a good spot.
But the resiliency of our team continued to show up, not only in the form of that, but in the guys that had to step up and just kept going.
"And so it's a great trademark to have as a team as you enter the middle of the season, and certainly we'll look at the tape and learn a lot from it, but I'm extremely proud of the way that these guys just continue to battle and fight when so many guys went down. There were several true freshmen in the game at several points."
Miami also didn’t get Lightfoot back on the field after he had a strong first half, and Cristobal said the status won’t be clear right away.
On Lightfoot: "We won't know until Tuesday, Wednesday, something like that. We'll go back and evaluate and see where he's at."
Even with the depth chart getting stretched, Miami kept winning the trenches. Fletcher finished with 76 yards on 16 carries, but both of his touchdowns came after the Hurricanes kept hammering away on the ground. Cristobal said the offensive line has been trending in the right direction for weeks, and Clemson finally got worn down by it.
"Well, I just think as time has gone on when you assess O-line play we view it for what it is, and we measure progress, the metrics that we have for that are very tangible and concrete," Cristobal said. "Our O-line has been getting better and better and better, and there came a point in time where let's put the game on your backs and let's see what happens.
"And they did against a team that's been playing, I think they didn't allow a touchdown for 20 drives prior to our game. And the O-line just kept pounding away, pounding away, pounding away, and then did it there again at the end. So really proud of those guys."
The bigger picture around Miami keeps looking stronger, too. The Hurricanes are 5-0 with three road wins, and that kind of start has happened only three other times before. The source tied those previous starts to good outcomes, and Miami is carrying that same kind of momentum into its bye week.
That week off now gives the Hurricanes a chance to get healthier, sort through the injuries that piled up over the last few games, and keep building on a stretch that has already made them look like a true championship contender.
In Other News...
Miami Looked Like A Title Contender But One Concern Is Growing
Miamis win over Clemson did a lot more than add another quality result to the rsum. The Hurricanes backed it up with a defense that held Clemson to 13 points and just one touchdown, while the offense found enough explosive plays to keep control of the game. Cooper Barkate delivered the kind of breakout performance that can change the feel of a season, highlighted by a 61-yard touchdown catch, and Darian Mensah added scoring through both the air and on the ground.
The problem for Miami was everything that happened around the win. The Hurricanes were dealing with multiple injuries by the end of the game, including to key offensive linemen and cornerbacks, and while some players were able to return after leaving, the list of in-game issues kept growing. For a team that just looked every bit like a title contender, the concern now is less about whether Miami can beat top competition and more about how long it can keep doing it with so many bodies being asked to hold up. [Read more 🡒]
Miamis Biggest Worry After Clemson Has Nothing To Do With The Score
Miami left Clemson with a convincing 40-13 win in a primetime matchup, and the performance had the feel of a complete road statement even with several key players banged up along the way. The Hurricanes absorbed injuries on both lines and in the secondary, yet the defense still smothered Clemsons rushing attack and finished with six sacks while the ground game produced 192 yards and three touchdowns.
The bigger concern now is less about the scoreboard and more about how Miami comes out of it physically as the calendar turns to Florida State. A rivalry game of that size demands depth and health, and the Hurricanes have already seen how quickly their margin can shrink when the injuries start to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Just Gave The ACC No Real Case Against No. 1
Miamis win over Clemson did more than add another eye-catching result to the ledger. It gave the Hurricanes a weekend built on both style and substance, the kind of showing that tends to linger in the ACC pecking order. With Miami stacking up as the leagues benchmark in scoring and defense, the argument around the top spot is starting to look less like a debate and more like an acknowledgment of what has already happened on the field.
Around the conference, a few teams flashed enough to keep the race interesting, from Pitt and Duke to SMU and Louisville, while others like Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson continue sorting out where they really fit. But Miamis combination of a statement win and season-long consistency leaves the ACC with a familiar problem: if the No. 1 team keeps handling its biggest tests, there may not be much left to argue about. The next stretch will show whether anyone can make that case anyway. [Read more 🡒]