MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami is a Top 10 team after two games, something that until now hadn’t been the case in any of the last 15 seasons.
That sounds like a big deal. Except, that is, to the Hurricanes.
No. 10 Miami (2-0) plays host to Ball State (1-0) on Saturday, looking to extend its unbeaten start. Plenty of numbers to this point look good: sixth nationally in third-down offense, seventh nationally in third-down defense, 12th nationally in scoring offense.
And there’s this, too: “We haven’t even played close to our best football yet,” quarterback Cam Ward said.
The victory celebrations after beating Florida by 24 points in Week 1 and Florida A&M by 47 points last weekend were relatively brief for the Hurricanes. It starts with Ward, the transfer who says he’s allowed himself about 30 minutes after each of those games before turning the page to whatever is coming next.
There might have been some Miami teams in recent years that thought being good in September was good enough; for example, each of the last six Hurricane team were ranked at some point in September, but only one of those teams finished the year among the Top 25. This team doesn’t seem to employ that philosophy.
“We’ve just got to keep on bettering ourselves,” wide receiver Xavier Restrepo said.
That’s the whole idea for Ball State as well. The Cardinals are facing Miami for the first time and come into this as five-touchdown underdogs, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
Ball State beat Missouri State 42-34 in its opener last weekend, trailing 14-7 in the third quarter before getting four touchdown passes from Kadin Semonza in a 10-1/2 minute span to help seal the win.
“Obviously, Miami’s a good football team,” Ball State coach Mike Neu said. “They’re doing some really good things through two games here. They’ve had two dominating wins, and they’ve worked hard in the transfer portal.”
Last week’s win had added value for Miami. The Hurricanes had 52 players log at least one official play against Florida in Week 1, then got 78 players into the Florida A&M game.
That helps build depth, Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.
“We’ve got to do a better job coaching the other half of the roster and developing the players,” Cristobal said.
It’s rare for Ball State to meet an ACC opponent.
Ball State has faced six other schools that are currently ACC football members, going 1-9 in those games. The Cardinals are 0-3 against Boston College and Clemson, and 0-1 against Clemson, N.C. State, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. They’re 1-0 against Virginia.
Cristobal and Neu are among 16 current FBS head coaches leading their alma maters.
Cristobal was an offensive lineman for Miami and at the school from 1988 through 1992. Neu is one of Ball State’s top all-time quarterbacks, part of two Mid-American Conference championship teams and a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.
Northern Illinois’ 16-14 win over then-No. 5 Notre Dame last weekend was the fourth time that a MAC school topped a Top 10 team — a list Ball State will try to join this weekend.
The others: Marshall beat No. 6 Kansas State 27-20 and Toledo defeated No. 9 Pitt 35-31 in 2003, and Miami of Ohio topped No. 8 LSU 21-12 in 1986.
Neu sent Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock a congratulatory email after the Notre Dame win. “I think it’s a credit to our conference,” Neu said.
Miami has opened its season with a pair of wins by at least 24 points. The Hurricanes haven’t had three such wins to open a season since 2017, when they beat Florida A&M (70-3), Florida Atlantic (38-10) and Appalachian State (45-10).
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