Jimbo Fisher has seen it before, and he sees it again with the Miami Hurricanes this season. The former FSU and Texas A&M head coach isn't worried about a potential trap game for the Hurricanes because he believes their best players won't let it happen.
"I'm not just saying their ability, I'm saying their attitude. This team is on a mission," Fisher said during the ACC Huddle broadcast on the ACC Network.
North Carolina isn't a typical trap game. Miami has lost five straight to the Tar Heels, and the explosive Hurricanes offense will be facing one of the greatest defensive minds in the history of the sport. With a showdown against Notre Dame looming, this will be the greatest test of Mario Cristobal's process of focusing on going 1-0 each week.
North Carolina has always been a problem for Miami…
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) October 28, 2026
The Tar Heels have beaten the Canes five consecutive times and have won 8 of their last 11 meetings in Chapel Hill.
2023: UNC W 41-31
2022: UNC W 27-24
2021: UNC W 45-42
2020: UNC W 62-26
2019: UNC W 28-25
In 2004, #4 Miami… pic.twitter.com/Wee6yxAp6J
Miami has the players to carry it through rough waters
Fisher mentioned the top players on offense — Malachi Toney, Darian Mensah, and Mark Fletcher — as the guys who will not let Miami fail. I would add Javian Mallory to that group and also give credit to Bryce Fitzgerald and Ahmad Moten Sr. on defense.
"These guys are carrying the water. They're going to carry it every week, they're going to carry it every second, every play. There is a mindset, a demeanor, and a personality on this team that's not going to let [a trap game] happen," Fisher commented.
The point is strong: the Hurricanes are a player-led team, and it features a group of guys who have memories of getting so close to a championship before falling to Indiana. Those sorts of disappointments become a driving force to make things right this season.
"This team is a hungry team. They were one drive away from winning the national championship," Fisher added. "This team is on a mission. I've been on teams like that, and I've been around teams like that."
College football has changed a ton. The expanded playoffs offer most power conference teams some margin for error. Everyone can have a bad game, a bad week, a bad quarter that leads to a defeat. But where Miami is hoping to be different is with its maturity. There are a lot of guys on this roster who have played a lot of football at Miami. And while few teams have distributed more snaps for freshmen than the Hurricanes, it always comes back to the top guys doing top-guy things.
That's always been the case for championship teams. Different players will emerge during the course of a season. A backup tailback will have a 100-yard game when the starter is injured. Maybe the backup quarterback threw for 300 yards and three scores on the week when the starter was a little banged up. The freshman linebacker might have a pick-six that salts away a tight game. But more times than not, it's the top guys that coaches and players will lean on when things get shaky.
Luckily, Miami has those top guys, and Fisher thinks they will be enough for the Hurricanes to survive Halloween in Chapel Hill and possibly be the last team standing when the CFP smoke clears in mid-January.
Add us as a preferred source on Google