After Miami’s prime-time win over No. 6 Notre Dame, ESPN analyst Booger McFarland pushed back on the surge of "The U is back" takes. "I’m not gonna say 'The U' is back… They’ve been trying to come back since 1987," McFarland said on the Sept. 2 episode of Pardon My Take. "I’ll just say I liked what I saw from them last Sunday."
McFarland’s caution landed amid a measurable uptick in Miami’s public stock. Two days after the win, the AP Top 25 vaulted the Hurricanes to No. 5, their highest in-season mark in years.
So why the skepticism?
Miami’s five national titles came in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001 and since joining the ACC in 2004, the Hurricanes have never won the conference, with their nearest miss a 38–3 loss to Clemson in the 2017 ACC Championship game. Sustained, season-long excellence has eluded Miami in the modern era. Even the 2017 run that reached No. 2 unraveled into a 10–3 finish. That’s part of what's stopping McFarland from getting on the hype train.
The counterpoint is that Week 1 was credible evidence of change. Miami beat a top-10 opponent while winning every coach’s favorite columns — turnovers, situational defense, and late-game execution. Miami finished +2 in turnovers, controlled the clock 33:57–26:03, and got a clean debut from Carson Beck (20/31, 205 yards, 2 TD).
The AP voters rewarded that, but whether that translates into being "back" depends on Miami being able to sustain the momentum into their next stretch of games and be in the playoff conversation late in the season. Late-season relevance is something Miami hasn’t done often since the early-2000s.
McFarland’s words on Pardon My Take weren’t dismissive so much as demanding for a little more. He praised the performance while withholding the label that Miami fans (and some national voices) were quick to apply. In a sport that now ultimately measures being "back" by playoff appearances/wins, his bar isn’t unfair.
The Hurricanes get Bethune-Cookman next which is a favorable matchup for the Canes and a chance to start the season 2-0.