Miami star freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney was praised by Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal for his resilience. Toney fumbled on the penultimate Miami drive of the game to give Texas A&M possession at the Aggies' 47-yard line with 7:11 left in the fourth quarter.
The Miami defense held Texas A&M to 12 yards on five plays after the Toney fumble and forced the Aggies to punt. Miami took over at its own 14-yard line and had a six-play 86-yard drive in 2:18 that culminated with an 11-yard reception by Toney from Carson Beck on a shovel pass to put Miami in front 10-3.
Texas A&M answered with a 10-play 70-yard drive in a 1:20 to the Miami five-yard line. On third and goal from the Miami five yard, true freshman safety Bryce Fitzergerald got his second interception of the game in the end zone off of Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed.
Carson Beck took a knee and Toney's TD stood up as the only one of the game as Miami earned a 10-3 win at Texas A&M. Toney finished with 31 yards from scrimmage. That was the second-lowest scrimmage yardage for Toney in 2025. Toney had 26 yards on five touches as Miami beat Syracuse 38-10 in November.
"What he's shown all year long...he's unfazed. He's unaffected. He trusts his teammates. His teammates trust him. When that ball came out, look how many teammates ran to him and said, "Hey, man. You'll be all right. You'll be back.""Miami head coach Mario Cristobal
Toney added four punt returns for 82 yards against Texas A&M. The longest punt return for Toney was 55 yards shortly before halftime when he was tripped up by the Texas A&M punter, or he would have scored a TD.
After Toney fumbled late in the game, his teammates consoled him and helped him ensure confidence to make what turned out to be one of the biggest plays of the game. Toney also set the Miami single-season reception record on Saturday.
Xavier Restrepo previously held the Miami single-season reception record with 84 in 2024. Toney now has 89 receptions for 992 yards and eight receiving TDs as a true freshman. Toney previously set the Miami single-season freshmen reception and receiving yardage records this season.