12 notable stats from the Miami Hurricanes’ win over the Clemson Tigers

University of Miami admin October 5, 2026 0 Comments

12 notable stats from the Miami Hurricanes’ win over the Clemson Tigers

CLEMSON, S.C.

The No. 4 Miami Hurricanes’ undefeated run to begin the season continued with a 41-13 road win over the Clemson Tigers on Saturday night.

Here are 12 notable stats from the win.

3: The Hurricanes now have three road wins over power conference opponents on the season, winning conference games against Stanford, Wake Forest and Clemson away from home. They are one of two Football Bowl Subdivision team with three wins away from home against power conference foes, along with Notre Dame (a neutral-site win against Wisconsin and true road wins against Purdue and North Carolina).

28: Miami’s 28-point margin of victory was its second-largest ever against Clemson in the 15-game series history between the schools. The only time the Hurricanes beat the Tigers by a bigger margin was on Oct. 9, 1953, when UM won 39-7.

The 28-point victory also marked the second-largest by which Clemson has lost at home in Dabo Swinney’s 19-year run at the helm of the program. The only loss that was worse by a point-total margin was a 51-14 loss to Florida State on Oct. 19, 2013.

98: Wide receiver Cooper Barkate had a season-high 98 receiving yards and a touchdown on five catches against Clemson. The majority of that came on his first reception, a 61-yard catch and run touchdown on Miami’s opening drive. Barkate on the season has 19 catches for 241 yards and four touchdowns.

23: With his touchdown pass to Barkate, quarterback Darian Mensah has now thrown a touchdown in 24 consecutive games, extending the longest active streak in the FBS. Mensah finished Saturday completing 18 of 27 passes for 227 yards and one touchdown. He has thrown 15 touchdowns without an interception through five games with Miami.

34: Mensah also made plays with his feet on Saturday, highlighted by a 34-yard rushing touchdown. It’s tied for the longest rush of his collegiate career and marked his second consecutive game with a rushing touchdown.

2: Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. had two second-half touchdowns to essentially put the game away. It’s the ninth multi-touchdown game of his UM career and brings his career rushing touchdown total to 31. That’s tied with Willis McGahee for third in school history and just four shy of Stephen McGuire’s school record of 35 rushing touchdowns.

83: Perhaps Miami’s best drive of the night was the one that ended with Fletcher’s first touchdown. Miami went 83 yards across 14 plays, taking up 7:58 of game clock in the process. Mensah completed all six of his pass attempts for 58 yards — including a 3-yard completion to Malachi Toney on fourth and 1 midway through the possession — while Fletcher and Javian Mallory combined for 31 yards on seven carries (Mensah was sacked for a 6-yard loss early in the possession). That drive put Miami up 24-6 with 1:51 left in the third quarter.

3: Miami’s defense allowed Clemson to score points on just three possessions — two field goals and one touchdown — despite the Tigers reaching Hurricanes territory on eight of 12 drives. Clemson punted on three, had a turnover on downs on a fourth and had the clock expire at the end of the game on the fifth.

6: The Hurricanes recorded a season-high six sacks on Saturday. It’s the first time since Nov. 14, 2020, at Virginia Tech that Miami had a half-dozen sacks in a road conference game.

2.5: Missouri transfer edge rusher Damon Wilson II was responsible for 2.5 of those six sacks. He is just the sixth Hurricanes player in the past 20 years to have at least 2.5 sacks in a road game. The others: Rueben Bain Jr. (three at Texas A&M on Dec. 20, 2025, in the first round of the College Football Playoffs), Akheem Mesidor (3.5 at Virginia Tech on Oct. 15, 2022), Jaelan Phillips (2.5 twice — first at Virginia Tech on Nov. 14, 2020, and again at Duke on Dec. 5, 2020), Gregory Rousseau (four at Florida State on Nov. 2, 2019 and three at Pittsburgh on Oct. 26, 2019), and Kareem Brown (2.5 against Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl on Dec. 31, 2006, and at Virginia on Nov. 18, 2006).

55: Miami held Clemson to just 55 rushing yards on 31 attempts (90 on 25 if removing sack yardage). The Tigers came into the game averaging 158.25 rushing yards per game, including 221.5 in their two previous ACC games.

2: Miami’s defense forced two more turnovers on Saturday, with Herbert Scroggins III recovering a fumble forced by Ahmad Moten Sr. and JJ Dunnigan returning an interception for a touchdown.

Dunnigan became the first Miami true freshman to return an interception for a touchdown since Trajan Bandy did so on Nov. 11, 2017, against Notre Dame. It also marked the sixth consecutive season that Miami has had at least one pick-six.

This story was originally published October 4, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline “12 notable stats from the Miami Hurricanes’ win over the Clemson Tigers.”