Miami’s fast start has put the Hurricanes right where they want to be heading into Week 3: favored, humming, and carrying the kind of offense that can overwhelm teams in a hurry. Darian Mensah and company have rolled through their first two games by a combined 109 points, and now they head into an ACC matchup with Wake Forest, another 2-0 team that had to survive a double-overtime battle with Purdue in Week 2.
The oddsmakers aren’t treating this like a coin flip. Miami is the clear favorite, and that makes sense after the way the Hurricanes have handled Stanford and Florida A&M. Those two wins came with Miami heavily favored, but the results were exactly what you’d want to see: 39- and 70-point victories while allowing only 13 total points.
Wake Forest, meanwhile, has done enough to stay unbeaten with wins over Akron and Purdue. But the Purdue game exposed some issues, especially on defense. Ryan Browne threw for 329 yards against the Demon Deacons, and that’s a number Miami will absolutely notice.
The matchup to watch is Toney against a defense that has not yet shown it can slow down elite passing games. The sophomore wideout has already posted 16 catches for 330 yards and four touchdowns through two weeks, including a massive 234-yard, three-score performance against Stanford in Week 1. With Wake Forest facing a far stiffer test here, Mensah should keep feeding him, and it would not be surprising if Toney gets plenty of chances to stretch the field.
At this point, a 1,000-yard, 10-touchdown season looks like the baseline for Toney in 2026.
Miami’s case is strengthened by what it did last season, too. The Hurricanes finished fourth in EPA/Play on defense and 11th on offense, and the current version of this team looks even more dangerous. Mensah may be an upgrade over Carson Beck, and with Miami’s offense looking like one of the best in the country, there’s a real belief that the Hurricanes can run the table in the ACC.
Wake Forest did finish last season in the top 40 in EPA/Play, but it also avoided Miami in ACC play and faced only two ranked teams all year. That leaves plenty of doubt about how it stacks up here, especially against a Miami team that looks built to win by margin.
The read here is straightforward: Miami has the firepower, the better defense, and the cleaner path through this kind of game. Lay the points with the Hurricanes on Friday night.
In Other News...
Wake Forest Gets A Shot At Miami's Shakiest Weakness Yet
No. 5 Miami arrives for its matchup with Wake Forest still looking every bit like one of the nations most dangerous offenses, fresh off a record-setting performance and carrying a long series edge in the meeting. But the Hurricanes defense has been forced into a different kind of conversation this week, with injuries altering the secondary and leaving Mario Cristobal to keep reshuffling pieces as the calendar turns toward conference play.
For Wake Forest, that opens a lane to test a vulnerable spot rather than simply chasing the usual Miami headline. Cristobal has already begun leaning on younger defenders, including Bryce Fitzgerald and freshman JJ Dunnigan, as the Hurricanes try to steady the back end and keep the damage from spreading beyond the players already sidelined. How well that patchwork holds up could shape whether Wake Forest gets more than a passing shot at the league favorites weakest current area. [Read more 🡒]