Following a 33-20 road win over Wake Forest last Friday, the Miami Hurricanes are 3-0 to start the 2026 season. They’re one of two college football teams – along with Mississippi State – with multiple road victories over power conference opponents.
The offense, led by Heisman contenders Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney, has been explosive, averaging 51.7 points per game. Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s unit also ranks first nationally in total yards per game. Despite a slew of injuries to the defensive back room, the Hurricanes’ defense has held its own, allowing an average of 13 points in its two ACC games against Stanford and Wake Forest.
Miami has jumped out to a 3-0 start to begin its 2026 campaign. Mario Cristobal’s team has looked impressive on both sides of the ball but has room to improve in several areas. Here are five numbers that tell the story of the first quarter of the Hurricanes' season.Still, Miami looks far from perfect heading into its matchup on Saturday with Central Michigan. The offensive line play has been inconsistent, and a poor defensive second half nearly let the Demon Deacons mount a late-game comeback in Week 3.
Here are five numbers that tell the story of Miami’s season so far.
3
Mensah has been one of the country’s top field generals this year. His efficiency and accuracy have been particularly impressive.
Through three games, Mensah has completed 71 of his 79 passes (89.9 completion pct.) for 873 yards, 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions. This means that he’s thrown for three more passing touchdowns than he has incompletions, a reflection of his ability to quickly process the field and deliver passes on target.
Against Wake Forest, Mensah completed his first 24 passes, which is tied for the third-most in FBS history.
Following this completion streak, however, Mensah – as well as the rest of the Hurricanes’ offense – cooled down, totaling just 26 yards and zero points on their last five drives of the game.
“Not at the time I wasn’t [aware of the completion streak] … to be honest, I can’t even be that happy about it with how the second half went.” Mensah said to reporters after the game.
68
Safety JJ Dunnigan played 68 snaps against Wake Forest, the most by any UM defender. This is a testament to the trust that the staff has in the freshman defensive back.
Dunnigan, sporting a 6-foot-3, 205-pound frame, has shown plenty of flashes. Defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman utilizes Dunnigan both in coverage and in the run game. His blend of size and athleticism allows him to excel when playing close to the line of scrimmage.
Given that he only has three college games under his belt, Dunnigan expectedly has a ton of room to improve.
In the win over Wake Forest, Dunnigan posted a tackling grade of 24.9, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). For the season, he’s whiffed on five would-be tackles, a mark that is the worst on the team.
34
Through the first three games of the year, the Hurricanes have totaled 34 missed tackles – 15 of which were against the Demon Deacons. Their tackling woes extended several Wake Forest drives that eventually led to touchdowns.
As a team, Miami has posted a tackling grade of 43.3 for the season, which is the second-lowest grade of any Power Four program. Of the Hurricanes who have played at least 80 snaps, seven defenders have a tackling grade of less than 50: Dunnigan, edge defenders Damon Wilson II and Marquise Lightfoot, defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr., cornerback Damari Brown, cornerback Omar Thornton and safety Zechariah Poyser.
“We got to trust the system,” Hetherman told reporters on Monday. “We’re launching, we’re lunging, we’re diving, we’re not stepping on toes, we’re not pinning the knees, we’re not using the system, and we just got to get back to that. We do it every week, and that’ll just be the focus point again, just getting back to the details and the fundamentals and not trying to make the highlight hit but just go and get the guy down.”
Miami’s tackling will need to improve as the difficulty of the schedule increases in the weeks ahead.
22.2
Interior offensive lineman Seuseu “SJ” Alofaituli had a forgettable outing against Wake Forest. His run-blocking was okay, but he really struggled on passing downs, posting a dismal pass-blocking grade of 22.2.
This season, Alofaituli hasn’t been a complete negative for the offensive line, but his push in the run game has at times been lackluster, and we already discussed his pass-blocking shortcomings. He, along with UM’s other interior offensive lineman, has to improve throughout the next few weeks.
More than anything, they need to establish more game-to-game consistency, which head coach Mario Cristobal alluded to on Monday when asked to evaluate the play of the offensive lineman versus Wake Forest.
“Tackles and center had solid games, guards had some positive moments and some growing pain moments … on some plays, we did some really good things at guard, and other plays, like I mentioned, had some growing pains,” he said.
112
Let’s end this article on a positive note.
After his 12-reception and 114-yard game on Friday, Toney is on pace to finish with 1,776 yards this regular season. Not only would this shatter Miami’s single-season record (set by Toney in 2025), it would also break the ACC’s mark of 1,604 yards, set by former North Carolina State wideout and seven-time NFL Pro Bowler Torry Holt.
Now granted, it is unlikely that Toney keeps up this scorching pace of 148 yards per game. Still, his early-season hot streak speaks volumes to the improvements he’s made from his freshman to sophomore seasons as well as the connection he has with Mensah.
