The Miami football team earned a dominant 41-1 win in the season opener at Florida on Saturday. Miami dominated Florida in every conceivable way. Miami outgained Florida 529-261, had a 25-17 edge in first downs had 385 passing yards to 122 for the Gators, 144-139 advantage in rushing yards to 129 for Florida.
Cam Ward completely lived up to his expectations. Ward was everything described when he transferred to Miami. Using his feet and arm, Ward frequently extended plays as Miami scored on six of its first eight drives. Miami had touchdowns on five of their first eight drives on Saturday.
Ward completed 26 passes in 35 attempts for 385 yards with three TDs and one interception. As expected, Xavier Restrepo was Ward's favorite receiver with seven catches for 112 yards and one TD, Damien Martinez had 15 carries for 65 yards and Mark Fletcher scored two rushing touchdowns.
Isaiah Horton had four receptions for 70 yards and Elijah Arroyo set career highs with four receptions for 89 yards. Arroyo looked like the player he was expected to be before suffering a season-ending knee injury in 2022. The injury cost him most of the 2023 season as well.
Walk in yo swamp, take over yo swamp. #GoCanes pic.twitter.com/W3IvI5r9Sh
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) August 31, 2024
Statistic | Miami | Florida |
|---|---|---|
Total Yards | 528 | 261 |
Pass yards | 385 | 122 |
Rush yards | 143 | 139 |
First Downs | 25 | 17 |
Third Downs | 5-10 | 1-9 |
Fourth Downs | 0-0 | 1-2 |
Red Zone | 5-6 | 1-1 |
Sacks | 3 | 1 |
Tackles for loss | 8 | 2 |
Miami scored points in every quarter. Ward finished an 11-play, 84-yard drive with a nine yard TD pass to Cam McCormick. McCormick now has TD receptions in 2017 and 2024. The second and third quarter was decisive. Miami outscored Florida 31-7 and outgained the Gators 352-135 to put the game away.
Safety Jaden Harris led Miami defensively with seven tackles, one tackle for loss, a half sack he shared with Elijah Alston and a pass breakup. The Miami defense was dominant for most of the game. A Montrell Johson 71 yard TD run late in the second quarter was more than 25 percent of Florida's offense.
Johnson's TD run cut the Miami lead to 17-10. Ward led Miami on an eight play, 75 yards TD drive in 2:36 to re-extend the lead to 24-10 just before halftime, Miami had a six-play 75-yard TD drive to extend the lead to 31-10 and Florida was never closer than 21 the rest of the game.
Miami will return home next week to host Florida A&M In the home opener. With several teams losing ahead of them, expect Miami to move up quite a few spots in the Associate Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll when they are released on Monday.