4 winners and 2 losers from Miami's expected blowout win over Central Michigan

The Miami Hurricanes were expected to quickly dispatch Central Michigan, and they did not disappoint, routing the Chippewas 52-3 at Hard Rock Stadium. 

Next week things will get considerably tougher when Miami heads to Death Valley to take on the suddenly more competitive Clemson Tigers. The Hurricanes won't have many opportunities to impress against quality competition before the Nov. 7 date with Notre Dame arrives, but Week 5 should qualify as an opportunity. 

However, Week 4 was a success and here are the winners and losers from the action:

Winner: Darian Mensah should be the Heisman leader once again

Another game and another stellar performance for Darian Mensah, who threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns in a performance that should vault the quarterback back to the top of the Heisman race. Mensah is in total control of this offense, and he always seems to make the right decision. Forget turnovers, it's a surprise to see Mensah throw an incompletion. He only has 12 of them this season, compared to 14 touchdowns.

Winner: Chris Wheatley-Humphrey makes the most of his carries

With Mark Fletcher unavailable this week and Marty Brown done for the year, it was an open competition for the remaining Miami running backs to impress Mario Cristobal. Javian Mallory got the start and the true freshman was fine with 56 total yards on seven touches. 

But, it was third-year sophomore Chris Wheatley-Humphrey who took a big step forward in Week 4 with 104 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. With the Hurricanes using more of a running back-by-committee approach behind Fletcher, it could mean future opportunities for Wheatley-Humphrey.

Winner: Marquise Lightfoot is becoming a force off the edge

There's no question that Marquise Lightfoot seems to get better by the week and with two sacks against the Chippewas, the junior from Chicago is gaining confidence and looks like the primary candidate to make up for the sack production that the Hurricanes lost with the departure of Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor.

Winner: The supporting cast on offense bounced back nicely

Malachi Toney was great again with six catches for 120 yards and a touchdown, but the rest of the receivers stepped up to give Mensah some additional options. Cooper Barkate had four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown while Dre Jacobs, Somourian Wingo and Daylyn Upshaw each had two receptions. Mensah is a great distributor and will find the open guys as long as they can get open. 

Loser: The penalties hurt, even in a blowout win

Damon Wilson II, who didn't record a sack, but had an active day, almost had a touchdown after he recovered a fumble forced on a jarring hit from Lightfoot, but the Hurricanes' defense was called for a personal foul and erased the touchdown. Some penalties arise from aggression and that's fine most of the time, but 13 flags for 107 yards is unacceptable and Cristobal will let his team hear about it.

Loser: The offensive line is still a work in progress

After going with the same starting five in Week 3 against Wake Forest, the changes were fast and furious against Central Michigan, with true freshman Ben Congdon getting more snaps at left guard and SJ Alofaituli doing more work with the second team at center and Jackson Cantwell playing right tackle. There was enough movement in the line play to believe that there could be some competition for snaps in practice. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow