No. 7 Miami gains school-record 856 yards, rolls past Florida A&M 77-7

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — No. 7 Miami set a school record for yards and tied the mark for points in a game, with quarterbacks Darian Mensah and Luke Nickel each throwing three touchdown passes in a 77-7 victory over lower-division Florida A&M on Thursday night.

The Hurricanes finished with 856 yards, breaking the mark of 750 against Ball State in 2024. Miami had 77 points in a game twice previously, both against Savannah State. And the game was so one-sided that the teams agreed to shave five minutes off the fourth quarter, setting the clock for 10 minutes instead of the standard 15.

By then, it was 77-0. The Hurricanes (2-0) finished with 42 first downs — another school record.

“Pretty ridiculous,” Mensah said when asked about a Miami offense that has scored 122 points in the season’s first two games. “It’s just a testament to the guys up front.”

Florida A&M (1-2) scored on a 72-yard fumble return by Caleb McKenzie with 6:40 left.

Miami opened its season with a 45-6 win at Stanford, and Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said he saw improvement from Week 1 to Week 2.

“We did a lot,” said Cristobal, who got his 99th career win. “Certainly, just wanted to see our guys play fast and free and improve. That was the most important thing; (going) 1-0 is always the goal, but in college football every single week you better get better. In some respects, I think we did that tonight.”

Mensah completed 14 of 15 passes for 252 yards and three first-half touchdowns, making him 41 of 45 for 653 yards and eight touchdowns in his first two games as a Hurricane. Javian Mallory and Mark Fletcher Jr. each rushed for two scores, and Malachi Toney — one of six Miami receivers with a touchdown catch — had four grabs for 96 yards.

Miami scored touchdowns on 11 of its first 12 possessions. The one exception: a one-play drive to kneel out the clock and end the first half. The Hurricanes had 16 players catch at least one pass, the first time a FBS school has done that since Penn State had 17 pass-catchers against Ohio in 2022.

Florida A&M finished with 107 yards, averaging a mere 2.3 yards per snap.

“We’re just working on doing our job,” Miami defensive lineman Armando Blount said.

The takeaway

Florida A&M: The Rattlers got $760,000 for this game, including $40,000 to bring the school’s famed “Marching 100” band to Hard Rock Stadium. The band — which has played there countless times, including as part of Prince’s Super Bowl halftime show in 2007 — performed throughout the game, including halftime.

Miami: Mensah and Nickel became the first power-conference teammates to have three TD passes in the same game since Patrick Mahomes and Nic Shimonek did it for Texas Tech against Kansas in 2016. … The Hurricanes have won 20 consecutive home openers.

Up next

Florida A&M: Host Tennessee State, Sept. 19.

Miami: At Wake Forest, Sept. 18.

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