Game Day Notes: Miami Hurricanes vs. ... how to watch, start time, game notes & more

NO. 4/6 MIAMI (3-0, 0-0 ACC) VS. FLORIDA (1-2, 0-1 SEC)
Date: Saturday, September 20, 2025
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Miami Gardens, Fla.
Stadium: Hard Rock Stadium (64,767)
Series History: Miami leads, 30-27
Miami / Miami Gardens: Series tied, 14-14
Gainesville: Miami leads, 13-9
Neutral Site: Florida leads, 4-3
Last Meeting: Miami won, 41-17 (Aug. 31, 2024)
Television: ABC
Talent: Chris Fowler (play by play), Kirk Herbstreit (color),
Holly Rowe (sideline)
Radio: 104.3 WQAM
Talent: Joe Zagacki, Don Bailey, Jr., Josh Darrow
Spanish Radio: Radio Libre 790 AM
Talent: Alfredo Alvarez, Joe Martinez
National Radio: Touchdown Radio
Talent: JP Shadrick, Gino Torretta, KC Jones

MIAMI GAME NOTES

QUICK HITS

• The Miami Hurricanes continue their fourth season under the direction of head coach Mario Cristobal on Sat., Sept. 20 at Hard Rock Stadium against Florida. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

• Miami posted its first 10-win season since 2017 and only its second 10-win season in the last 20 years in 2024. The Hurricanes also finished the season undefeated at home for the first time since 2002 (6-0).

• The Hurricanes are coming off a 49-12 over #18/#23 USF on Sept. 13 to improve to 3-0 for the third straight season. QB Carson Beck threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.

• The Hurricanes opened 2025 with a thrilling 27-24 win over #6/#6 Notre Dame in their season opener on Aug. 31. A sold-out crowd saw Miami earn its first top-10 win since a 2017 victory, also over the Irish.

• Miami topped Florida, 41-17, in last year’s matchup between the two teams on the road on Aug. 31, 2024.

NOTABLE

• #4#6 Miami continues its fourth season under head coach Mario Cristobal with a matchup against Florida at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 20. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on ABC, 104.3 WQAM, Radio Libre 790 AM and WVUM 90.5 FM.

• The Hurricanes entered the season ranked in the top 10 of both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls, checking in at No. 10 in both rankings, and rose to No. 5 in the AP and No. 7 in the Coaches Poll after a 27-24 win over Notre Dame in their opener. Following its win over #18/#23 USF on Sept. 13, Miami rose to No. 4 in the Week 3 AP poll.

• Among UM’s top newcomers is QB Carson Beck, who arrived from Georgia via transfer portal. Beck, who missed spring practices while recovering from UCL surgery, has a 27-3 (.900) record as a starting FBS quarterback, the best of any active player (minimum five games).

THE MATCHUP

• #5/#6 Miami continues the 2025 football season at Hard Rock Stadium vs. Florida on Saturday, Sept. 20. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. on ABC, with radio broadcasts set for 104.3 WQAM, Radio Libre 790 AM, WVUM 90.5 FM and Touchdown Radio.

• The Hurricanes carry a 30-27 all-time series lead over Florida into Saturday’s matchup, including a 41-17 throttling of the Gators in the 2024 matchup between the two teams in the season opener in Gainesville. The series between the programs is tied, 14-14, all-time in games played in Miami.

• The Hurricanes have won three straight games over the Gators in Miami or Miami Gardens, and have not lost to their in-state rivals at home since 1985. In the most recent matchup at what is now Hard Rock Stadium, the Hurricanes topped the 12th-ranked Gators, 21-16 in 2013.

• The University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus will play host to ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday, marking the 26th time a game involving the Hurricanes has been selected for the iconic pregame show. The visit is Game- Day’s first trip to the UM campus since 2017; Miami is 16-9 all-time in College GameDay games.

A LOOK BACK: UM THROTTLES TOP-20 USF, 49-12

• The No. 5/6 Miami Hurricanes topped visiting No. 18/23 USF, 49-12, on Sept. 13 to improve to 3-0 for the third straight year. The win marked Miami’s ninth straight at home overall, tying a stretch from 2016-2017 for the second-longest home winning streak since 1999.

• QB Carson Beck finished 23-for-28 for 340 yards and three touchdowns, including the first two to freshman WR Joshua Moore. Beck also added his first rushing touchdown of the year. RB Mark Fletcher, Jr., led the way for Miami offensively, finishing with 120 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

• Facing one of the nation’s premier offenses, the Miami defense forced two turnovers and held USF to just 40 rushing yards and 15 first downs. The Hurricanes snapped the longest interception-free streak of any FBS quarterback when DB Bryce Fitzgerald picked off dynamic USF QB Byrum Brown, who ran for just two yards.

• Moore became the first Hurricane to record two receiving touchdowns in a first quarter since Stacy Coley did so against Pittsburgh in 2013. He became the first Hurricane true freshman with multiple touchdown catches in a game since Larry Hodges on Sept. 14, 2019 against Bethune-Cookman, and the first freshman to do it versus an FBS team since Coley, who did it against both Pittsburgh and USF in 2013.

• The outcome was UM’s biggest victory margin over a ranked opponent since beating Washington 65-7 in 2001.

HURRICANES UP TO 4TH IN AP, 6TH BY COACHES

• Following their second ranked win of the year, the Hurricanes remained at No. 6 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and moved up to No.4 in the Associated Press top 25 rankings. Miami has been in the top 10 the entirety of 2025.

• With its No. 5 ranking in the Associated Press poll attained on Sept. 2, the Hurricanes have made it back-to-back years to crack the top five of the AP for the first time since a six-season run from 2000-05. Miami was ranked No. 10 in both preseason polls.

• The Hurricanes opened the 2024 season at No. 19 in the poll and found their name in every top 25 ranking of the season. The Hurricanes reached as high as No. 4 (after improving to 9-0 to start the year) and ended No. 18 in the final poll, its highest final ranking since being ranked No. 13 to end 2017. Mario Cristobal’s highest-ranked finish as a head coach came in the final 2019 polls, when Oregon was No. 5/5.

FOLLOW THE BLUEPRINT: CANES ARE ON THE RISE

• Miami reached a number of notable milestones in 2024, its third season under Mario Cristobal. The Hurricanes managed only the second 10-win season in the last 20 years at Miami (2017), finished undefeated at home for the first time since 2002 and ended the season inside the Associated Press Top 20 at No. 18 – only its second finish that high since 2005. UM went from five wins (2022, 5-7) to seven (2023, 7-6) to 10 (2024, 10-3) under Cristobal.

• The Hurricanes had 10 NFL Combine invites and its seven NFL Draft picks ranked sixth-most nationally. The Hurricanes had just one NFL Draft pick in the draft prior to Cristobal taking the helm, in 2022 – and it came in the seventh round (Jon Ford, Green Bay Packers).

• Miami won the unofficial “state championship” by beating Florida, FSU and USF in the same year last season.

• QB Cam Ward, the winner of the Davey O’Brien Award and Manning Award as the nation’s top quarterback, was selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Tennessee Titans – it was the third No. 1 overall pick in program history.

CARSON BECK ARRIVES IN CORAL GABLES AS QB 1

• For the second straight year, the Miami Hurricanes added one of the top quarterbacks in the country in the January transfer window, signing QB Carson Beck after an eye-popping career at Georgia, where he finished 24-3 as a starting quarterback with the Bulldogs. He threw for 7,912 yards, 58 touchdowns and 20 interceptions at UGA.

• Last time out, Beck threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns in a win over then-No. 18/23 USF, 49-12. The performance marked Beck’s 10th career 300-yard passing game – he is one of just three FBS quarterbacks with 10-or-more 300-yard games, joining Josh Hoover of TCU (12) and Tyler Van Dyke of SMU (11).

• Beck currently ranks second among FBS players in career passing yards (8,724), third in career passing efficiency (158.84), fifth in career total offense (8,995).

• He was named to the Davey O’Brien “Great 8” after a 205-yard, two-touchdown win in his debut vs. Notre Dame. In Miami’s win vs. Bethune-Cookman, Beck had his 14th career game with multiple passing touchdowns and zero interceptions. That is the second most among active FBS players behind Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia (19).

• Beck went 22-for-24 (91.7) against Bethune-Cookman, marking the highest completion rate by any Miami signal caller (min. 20 attempts) over the last 30 seasons.

• He now owns a 27-3 record as a starting quarterback at the FBS level (.900), the best of any active player.

• Beck, who assumed starting responsibilities at Georgia in 2023 as a fourth-year redshirt sophomore, led the Bulldogs to a 13-1 record and a win in the 2023 Capital One Orange Bowl, finishing just shy of a College Football Playoff berth in the four-team field. He was a member of back-to-back national championship teams as a backup.

• In his second year as the team’s starting quarterback in 2024, Beck led Georgia to the College Football Playoff with an 11-2 record. Beck was hurt in the 2024 SEC Championship Game against Texas, which Georgia won, 22- 19. He finished 2024 with 3,485 yards, a 64.7% completion percentage, 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

• Beck underwent surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow after the SEC Championship Game. Though he did not throw during all of spring practice at Miami after enrolling in January while completing his rehab, he was cleared for full participation shortly thereafter and took part in all summer team activity.

HURRICANES LOOKING TO EXTEND HOME STREAK

• The Miami Hurricanes opened their 18th season at world-class Hard Rock Stadium on Aug. 31 vs. Notre Dame; with its win over the Irish, UM holds a 18-0 all-time mark in home openers at the stadium, having outscored opponents 810-155 for an average margin of victory of 36.4 points in those 18 home openers since 2008.

• The Hurricanes have won nine straight home games dating back to Sept. 7, 2024 – a stretch that encapsulated the entirety of 2024. Miami’s nine-game winning streak is the eighth-longest streak nationally and represents its longest run of consecutive home wins since Miami won nine straight from 11/05/2016 – 11/18/2017.

• If the Hurricanes top Florida on Saturday, Sept. 20, Miami will have won 10 straight games at home – its first double-digit home winning streak since a stretch of 26 in a row from Oct. 30, 1999 – Oct. 18, 2003.

• With a win on Sept. 6, UM started the season 2-0 at home for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons (since 2012). The Hurricanes have not lost a home opener since 2006, when they fell to Florida State 13-10 at the Orange Bowl on Sept. 4, 2006. Miami has won 19 straight home openers since – each one since 2007.

• In the modern era of Miami Hurricanes football (since 1979), UM has opened the season at home 20 times and is now 18-2 in those games. The Hurricanes are 35-12 in regular season openers dating to 1979.

TONEY MAKING NAME FOR HIMSELF AS FRESHMAN

• WR Malachi Toney has been among Miami’s top playmakers in his true freshman season, emerging as a go-to target in the Hurricanes offense for QB Carson Beck and OC Shannon Dawson.

• Since at least 2008, no freshman (redshirt or otherwise) in all of FBS had ever led his team in the first two games of the season in both catches and yards until Toney did so for Miami against both Notre Dame (6 catches, 82 yards) and Bethune-Cookman (6 catches, 80 yards) in 2025. He also tied for the team lead in catches last time out against USF, posting six catches for 66 yards. He leads Miami with 18 catches for 228 yards this season.

• Toney is one of just two true freshmen in the country to lead his team in catches and yards. He leads all freshmen in catches and ranks second nationally among true freshmen in yards, trailing SMU’s Jalen Cooper (230).

• Toney became the only Hurricane in the last 30 seasons to have at least six catches, 80 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in his college debut. He was named 247Sports National True Freshman of the Week for his performance against the Fighting Irish.

• The 17-year-old Toney, who turns 18 on September 17th (9/17/2007), reclassified from the Class of 2026 to the Class of 2025 at American Heritage. He helped lead the Patriots to a 12-2 record and a Class 4A state title in his final year, finishing as the team’s leading receiver with 1,018 yards and 12 touchdowns on 57 receptions.

• Toney played quarterback the final three games of the season at quarterback in place of the injured starter at QB, completing 36-of-45 passes for 510 yards and seven touchdowns compared to one interception over that time.

BALLHAWKING FITZGERALD ADDS ANOTHER PICK

• DB Bryce Fitzgerald recorded an interception for the second straight game last time out, picking off USF QB Byrum Brown to end what was the nation’s longest passing streak without an interception (252 straight attempts).

• After three weeks, Fitzgerald joins Markus Boswell of Akron as the only freshmen to have multiple picks this year. He became the fourth Hurricane since 2020 to record an interception in back-to-back games.

• Fitzgerald, one of Miami’s top performers as a true freshman, had the first interception of his career against Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 6. Both interceptions showcased his elite instincts, which have been praised by staff and teammates. A four-star safety out of Christopher Columbus High School, Fitzgerald debuted vs. Notre Dame.

FLETCHER HAS DAZZLING GAME IN WIN OVER USF

• RB Mark Fletcher, Jr., delivered a dominant outing for the Hurricanes in their 49-12 win over No. 18/23 USF last time out, posting 120 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. He also added two catches for 25 yards.

• Fletcher’s performance was only the fourth this season by an FBS player who recorded 100-plus yards and multiple touchdowns against an opponent ranked in the Top 25 of the Associated Press poll.

• It was Fletcher’s second 100-yard, multi-touchdown game of his career against an AP ranked team – he also did it vs. Louisville in 2023. Since 2000, there have been only eight such performances by the Hurricanes – two from Fletcher, two from Tyrone Moss, two from Willis McGahee and one each from Clinton Portis and Frank Gore.

• The 100-yard performance from Fletcher was the third of his career and first since 11/18/2023 vs. Louisville.

MIAMI POSTS TWO RANKED WINS IN 1ST THREE

• Prior to this season, where Miami has knocked off both #10/#10 Notre Dame and #18/#23 USF, the last time Miami started a year with a 3-0 mark with at least two ranked wins in those first three games was the 1993 season. UM opened the year with wins over then-No. 20 Boston College, Virginia Tech and then-No. 13 Colorado.

CANES LEAD THE NATION IN FG PCT. SINCE 2020

• The Hurricanes have been the most accurate field-goal kicking team in the country over the last six seasons. Miami has made 87.5 percent of its field goal attempts since 2020 (98/112), including a 3-for-3 start to 2025.

MESIDOR 2ND IN CAREER SACKS IN ALL OF FBS

• A key member of Miami’s defensive line who has been stellar through the first two games of the season, veteran edge rusher Akheem Mesidor is second in all of FBS with 25.0 sacks over the course of his career.

• Now in his sixth year, Mesidor spent the first two seasons of his career (2020-21) at West Virginia before transferring to Miami. He is one of just three players with more than 20 career sacks at the FBS level, joining Trey Moore of Texas (27.5) and Mikail Kamara of Indiana (22.5).

DANIELS, NEW RECEIVER GROUP IMPRESSING

• The Hurricanes lost their top-six pass-catchers by receptions from a season ago, when the Hurricanes had the No. 1 offense in the country. Miami’s three starting wide receivers were all making their debuts on Aug. 31 vs. Notre Dame: transfers CJ Daniels (LSU) and Keelan Marion (BYU) as well as true freshman Malachi Toney.

• The trio combined for 14 catches totaling 157 yards and two touchdowns in Miami’s 27-24 win. Toney was targeted 10 times – more than any other player – while both he and Daniels had touchdown catches.

• Daniels is one of only two active FBS players with 2,500 receiving yards (2,614) and 20 touchdowns (24) over their careers at the FBS level. The other is Arkansas State’s Corey Rucker (3,184, 25). Daniels’ eye-popping onehanded score vs. ND was named the Crunch Time Play of the Week by the Football Writers Association (FWAA).

• Daniels ranks third among all FBS players with 2,614 career receiving yards, trailing Rucker and Caullin Lacy of Louisville (2,787). There are only four players in FBS who have 2,500-or-more receiving yards.

MIAMI MAKES IT FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS OF 2-0

• With a 45-3 win over Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 6, the Hurricanes opened the season with a 2-0 start for the fourth straight year – something it has not done since a four-season span from 2001 to 2004 (2022-2025).

BROWN ONE OF JUST 30 BACKS IN 1,100/15 CLUB

• Despite having two running backs – Mark Fletcher, Jr. and Jordan Lyle – that will play massive roles for Miami’s offense in 2025, Mario Cristobal went out and added one of the best players at the FCS level to the roster this offseason – former North Dakota State running back CharMar “Marty” Brown (pronounced like Shemar).

• Brown was one of 30 DI (FBS/FCS) players last season to record at least 1,100 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns last season, and is the only active underclassman among that group. He is a redshirt sophomore.

• Brown, the Jerry Rice Award winner as the top freshman player in Football Championship Division last season, was a member of the Stats Perform, FCS Football Central and Phil Steele FCS Freshman All-America teams. Brown won Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors, becoming just the third Bison player and sixth in league history to sweep both awards.

• The Omaha, Neb., native led all FCS freshmen in rushing attempts (244), yards (1,181) and touchdowns (15) and became the first Bison tailback in seven years to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark. He is a 5-11, 220-pound back.

BECK JOINS ELITE COMPANY WITH GAME VS. USF

• QB Carson Beck became the the fourth Hurricanes quarterback in the last decade to throw for 300 yards (340) and at least three touchdowns (3) and run for a score in the same game, joining Cam Ward (2024), Malik Rosier (2017) and Brad Kaaya (2016). Ward had two such performances during his lone season at Miami in 2024.

FITZGERALD CONTINUES STREAK WITH 2ND PICK

• For the fourth straight season, the Miami Hurricanes had a player record interceptions in back-to-back games. Bryce Fitzgerald managed the feat against both Bethune-Cookman (Sept. 6) and USF (Sept. 13), joining Mishael Powell, who did it in 2024, as well as Kam Kinchens, who managed the feat during both 2022 and 2023 seasons.