U-know-who is back in the game, thanks to Cam Ward
Miami was nostalgically powerful in its 41-17 romp at Florida. Plus, other Week 1 confetti.
Like most people of a certain age, Cam Ward can appreciate the way life nudges you in the ribs. He is the quarterback who is expected to drive Miami back into the 90s and into college football’s throne room again. He remembers the days when he couldn’t even get half a ride.
Actually Ward is only 22, but he’s a five-year, three-school warrior in the swirling world of college football. From a wing-TV high school formation to a spring Covid-19 season at Incarnate Word to a prominent spot at Washington State and now this? Like Bonnie Raitt once sang, the road is his middle name.
Ward began the Miami phase of his long, strange trip in brilliant fashion Saturday. The Hurricanes plundered Florida, 41-17, in Gainesville, and Ward completed 26 of 35 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns. Miami romped for 528 yards and cashed five of its 10 third downs, and they looked as confident, if not as contemptuous, as their ancestors at the U, the ones who won four championships in a nine year span for three different coaches, then came back to win another one for yet another coach in 2001.
That program built its unmistakable identity over a lot of years, with a lot of characters. Miami hasn’t won 10 games in a season since 2017 and has finished in the AP Top 25 rankings only five times since 2005. The Orange Bowl that they occupied, and epitomized, is no longer there, replaced by a gaudy baseball stadium of few fans and fewer wins, and the Hurricanes play up the freeway, to intermittent crowds.
The decline of Miami has many fathers, but mediocre quarterback play may be the most important. Ward is fixing that. He’s only 5-foot-11 and often he throws sidearm, but he processes information, and he is rarely tricked. All those reps, you know. After this game he chided the Florida crowd for only booing the ‘Canes when they broke the huddle, because by then everyone on the team knows the play. In fairness, the Gator fans have been sapped by their own mediocrity, and this outcome will not fill the merch store or help third-year coach Billy Napier stay in the SEC.
Ward isn’t the only transfer from the Pac-2 that has helped Miami. Damian Martinez, late of Oregon State, rumbled for 65 yards. Holdover receiver Xavier Restrepo snagged seven balls for 112 yards, sophomore Mark Fletcher ran for two scores, and the defense held Florida to 122 net passing yards and knocked quarterback Graham Mertz out of the game.
Fans had been waiting for this since Mario Cristobal, who played for the ‘Canes in the trophy days, came from Oregon after the 2022 season. Cristobal is a renowned recruiter, but the ‘Canes were 3-5 in the ACC last year and lost to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. Tyler Van Dyke, the former quarterbacking hope, transferred to Wisconsin. Overall Miami was 13-12 in Cristobal’s first two seasons.
But it’s all relative, and for Ward it looked like opportunity. He was hardly recruited from West Columbia, Tex., where he might have thrown the ball 12 times on a good day. Ward toured college summer camps after he finished his senior high school season, but he didn’t have a lot of tape to sell. Incarnate Word, coached by Eric Morris, finally bit. “It wasn’t a hard choice,” Ward said. “It was either there or Juco.”
Ward became the best freshman quarterback in the FCS Division. When Morris took a job as Washington State’s offensive coordinator, Ward followed. But after four years, and with the Pac-12 collapsing, Ward first put his name in the NFL draft, then withdrew it. Miami made it worth his while.
“I had to show myself, my 17 and 18 year old self, who wanted to play in the SEC,” Ward said. “God put me in position to play against an SEC team.”
“He’s ridiculous, amazing,” Restrepo said of Ward.
“He can find his receivers,” tackle Jalen Rivers said, “so even though it might take 8-10 seconds, we’ve got to keep blocking.”
The Florida fans dutifully sang Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” between the third and fourth quarters, except their football team was in full retreat by then. Maybe they should consider “You Don’t Know How It Feels To Be Me.” Thanks to Ward and a bunch of Hurricanes who look like they blew in from the 90s, Miami folks began to remember how good it can feel.
Other confetti from Saturday:
— Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan put up 304 yards in 10 catches and scored four touchdowns. The TDs came in the first half alone. Oddly, they weren’t enough to keep Arizona ahead of New Mexico, but the Wildcats wound winning, 61-39. McMillan set a school yardage record, and Noah Fifita, McMillan’s high school teammate at Servite in Anaheim, threw for 422 yards.
— Top-ranked Georgia took a while to figure out Clemson’s defense, but Clemson’s offense never escaped the dark. The Tigers had 188 total yards in a 34-3 loss that was only 6-0 at the half. Clemson had 13 first downs and rushed for two yards a carry. “When you get beat like that, that’s on me,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. “That’s taking ownership of an absolute crap second half.”
— Notre Dame took an early step toward the 12-team playoff with a determined 23-13 win at Texas A&M. Jeremiyah Love’s 29-yard run inside the two-minute mark put the Irish ahead, and the team rushed for 198 yards. Duke transfer Riley Leonard hit 18 of 30 passes, while A&M quarterback Conner Weigman needed 30 completions to get 100 net yards in the debut for new coach Dave Elko. The Irish seemed to get stronger the more time they spent in the South Texas microwave.
— Florida and A&M didn’t bring glory to the SEC but, in fairness, much of the rest of the league feasted on trail mix. Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas won their warmup games by a total of 505-9. Ole Miss did not play a starter in the second half of its 76-0 win over Furman. The only legitimate FBS team in that group of victims was Colorado State, which lost 52-0 at Texas.
— Then there was South Carolina, which scored with 6:11 to go to beat Old Dominion, 23-19. The Gamecocks’ two touchdown drives covered three and nine yards.
— A sleeper quarterback, when it comes to postseason honors and the NFL draft, is Purdue’s Hudson Card, a transfer from Texas. Card completed 25 of 26 for 273 yards. That tied an FBS record for completion percentage by a QB with 20 or more attempts in a game. The Boilermakers beat Indiana State, 49-0.
— UNLV had the stealthiest big win, taking care of business at Houston, 27-7. It was the Rebels’ first win over a Big 12 opponent since 2008 (Iowa State). Under coach Barry Odom, the Rebels had a breakthrough 9-5 season in 2023 and followed it up with 198 yards rushing at Houston, which couldn’t bring the performance that new coach Willie Fritz, from Tulane, was envisioning.