toney runs all over california: miami vs stanford game recap

Defenses beware, Malachi Toney, Darian Mensah, and the rest of the Miami Hurricanes offense put the country on notice in Palo Alto on Friday night. Mensah put on a clinic, throwing for 401 yards and five touchdowns to lead Miami to a 45-6 victory over Stanford, a game that was effectively decided by halftime and never got interesting again.

Mensah Spreading The Love:

The Hurricanes piled up 549 total yards on just 67 plays. Averaging 8.2 yards-per-play despite the constant feeling that Mensah and Toney could simply gain yards at will if they wanted too. While it would have been easy to do so, the Canes’ did a beautiful job of using the game to feed Toney’s surrounding receiving core. Duke WR transfer and last years #2 leading receiver in the ACC; Cooper Barkate, hauled in 4 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown while sophomore WR Dalyn Upshaw recorded his first career touchdown on an absolutely beautiful back shoulder dime from Mensah.  

Ups and Downs for Miami’s Defense: The good news for Miami DC Corey Heatherman is that his group did not give up a single touchdown, the bad news however is that Stanford QB Davis Warren, who is not exactly a gunslinger type of Quarterback, threw for a whopping 221 yards. Stanford WR1 Caden High tallied 6 catches and 92 yards on the day, representing a possible weak spot out wide that future ACC opponents may look to exploit for the Canes. A good sign for the Canes however is the fact that despite losing Reuben Bain and Akheem Mesidor to the NFL, the Canes D-line was still extremely effective against an experienced Cardinal offensive line. The DT duo of Ahmad Moten and Justin Scott looked elite, holding Stanford to just 78 rushing yards on the night. Off the edge, Missouri transfer Damon Wilson lived up to the preseason hype with 5+ QB hurries off the edge.

Mensah Picks Apart Stanford's Secondary

Mensah was nearly flawless, completing 90% of his passes without an interception and posting an absolutely absurd 257.3 quarterback rating. He spread the ball to eight different receivers and has earned his way atop the current Heisman leaderboard as of Saturday morning. Darien Mensah could not have been better for the Hurricanes.

Mahomes-Tyreek Hill Part 2?: Everyone knew the connection between Mensah and Sophomore Malachi Toney had the potential to be elite the second Mensah committed to the University after entering the transfer portal from Duke over the offseason. However, I do not think anyone could have predicted that Toney would start his teams first drive with 3 catches 75 yards and 1 TD. You read that right, Toney hauled in 3 catches for 75 yards and one touchdown in one drive alone. There was a constant feeling throughout the game that Mensah and Toney could simply gain yards at will if they wanted to, and quite frankly that is what the duo did. Toney finished with 12 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns on the night. 

Spreading the love: Despite Toney’s success, OC Shannon Dawson did a beautiful job of using the game to feed Toney’s surrounding receiving core. Duke WR transfer and last years #2 leading receiver in the ACC; Cooper Barkate, hauled in 4 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore WR Dalyn Upshaw recorded his first career touchdown on an absolutely beautiful back shoulder dime from Mensah. Josh Moore and true freshman Semarioun Wingo rounded out the notable receivers on the night, each hauling in 30+ yards in limited oppurtunities

Fun Fact: Malachi Toney's 234 yards alone outmatched Stanford's entire team passing output of 221.

Struggles on the Ground: Miami’s rushing attack was a mixed bag on Friday. While the IOL struggled, RB Charmar Brown ran well, punching in a rushing touchdown and averaging 5 yards a rush. True freshman RB Javian Mallory also got some run and averaged better than 10 yards a carry on his three attempts. Buy stock on Mallory as a potential freshman breakout candidate. The lone concerning stat on the night for Miami lies with RB Mark Fletcher. Fletcher, last year’s ACC’s leading rusher, rushed for just 40 yards on the night and averaged just 3 yards a carry. This is going to need to improve for Cristobal and the Canes before competition improves.

The Stanford ground game fared even worse. RB Sedrick Irvin led the team with just 41 yards on six carries, and the Cardinal finished with only 78 rushing yards as a team. Without a consistent run threat, Stanford was forced into obvious passing situations all afternoon and Miami's defense made them pay.

Stanford’s Charlie Eckhart tallied the game's only interception with a garbage time pick against Canes sophomore backup QB Luke Nickel.

The most telling number on the stat sheet wasn't the final score, it was the difference for each group on third down. Miami converted 8 of 11 third-down attempts (73%), while Stanford converted just 5 of 15 (33%) despite facing far more of them. That efficiency gap let Miami control the ball for 32:26 of possession time to Stanford's 27:34, even though the two teams ran a nearly identical number of total plays.

Miami also won the turnover battle 2-0 and was the more disciplined team, committing just five penalties for 50 yards compared to Stanford's nine for 70.

While Miami does need to improve in the secondary and the offensive line, the duo of Mensah and Toney should put the entire country on notice.