Hurricanes No. 1 after they ‘find a way’ vs FSU. Cristobal wants focus staying inward

As the Miami Hurricanes found themselves in a precarious position on Saturday night, Malachi Toney didn’t see much concern on the sideline. There was no panic, no need for a pick-me-up, no the-sky-is-falling mentality.

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Just an understanding that they were going to have to put their heads down and work.

“We’re great at being self-motivated,” Toney said. “We don’t need a rah-rah speech or anything like that.”

Miami didn’t put together the prettiest performance. Rivalry games tend to have that effect.

But the Hurricanes nevertheless prevailed with a thrilling, come-from-behind 43-35 double-overtime win over the Florida State Seminoles at Hard Rock Stadium to remain undefeated — and to find themselves as college football’s top team halfway through the regular season.

The Hurricanes (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) overcame a slew of first-half penalties — headlined by four personal fouls, including a targeting call that ejected defensive back Zechariah Poyser from the game — that played a role in the game being tied 14-14 at the break. They overcame Darian Mensah’s first interception of the season on the opening drive of the third quarter, snapping a stretch of 152 consecutive passes to open the campaign without an interception. They overcame their first second-half deficit (and first deficit of more than three points all season) with a resilient effort in the fourth quarter and overtime.

And, in the end, they overcame FSU’s upset bid after two Seminoles Hail Mary attempts in double overtime didn’t convert — the first wiped out by a holding call, the second snatched by safety Bryce Fitzgerald in a battle with star FSU receiver Duce Robinson for an interception to send the sideline and the home crowd into a frenzy after the game was officially over.

“It speaks loudly to the fact that this team has the confidence, despite errors made, despite issues that we caused ourselves, that we can find a way,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said, “and we found a way.”

Miami did find a way to win on Saturday, on a day when so many other top teams did not. Five of the top seven teams (No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Texas) lost in the same week for the first time in the history of the AP top 25 poll (since 1936). The Nos. 1 and 2 teams both lost on the same day for the first time since 2012.

Miami, which was No. 3 last week, as a result moved up to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since Dec. 8, 2002 — the final poll before that season’s BCS National Championship Game when UM lost to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

But the Hurricanes aren’t putting too much stock into that ranking at this juncture. The top team in the country lost each of the past two weeks — Texas last week to unranked Oklahoma (and then again this week to unranked Florida) and Georgia on Saturday to unranked Auburn.

The parity in college football is real. The need to be hyperfocused on what you can control has never been more pronounced. And the Hurricanes know they have to simply handle the task in front of them rather than worry about the number attached to their name.

“We have a good enough sample size of 2026 to know that’s absolutely insignificant and irrelevant with the changing of the guard from week to week,” Cristobal said postgame Saturday of the prospect of Miami being ranked No. 1. “I don’t see it as anything. I honestly really don’t. It has no value to our processes and whatnot. I’ll focus on the real ‘1’ that’s important: 1-0.”

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It’s the mentality Cristobal has been pushing throughout his entire tenure. The outside noise is irrelevant. The rankings and predictions and pundits are pointless.

They know anything can happen on any given Saturday, as the college football world at large has seen over the past two weeks.

“We really pride ourselves on showing up, going to work and doing the things necessary to keep our feet on the ground, mentally be grounded as well and focus on getting better,” Cristobal said. “Going 1-0 kind of fits that directly. There’s no looking [to the] past, and there’s nothing about looking ahead. The bottom line is that you’ve seen enough. You’ve seen enough this week and throughout the course of college football every year — and now even more so. … If you think you’re going to show up and automatically win, you’re going to get your ass beat.”

Miami learned that the hard way the last two years. In 2024, a 10-0 start to the season ended with losses in two of their final three regular-season games to Georgia Tech and Syracuse to miss out on the ACC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. In 2025, UM lost twice in a three-week span to unranked Louisville and SMU to put their campaign on life support before a four-game win streak to end the season allowed them to sneak into the 12-team playoff field and make a magical run to the title game.

They would rather avoid those types of losing spells happening for a third consecutive year.

That starts and finishes internally.

Saturday was the first real test of their resolve.

And when push came to shove, they stepped up.

Mensah led back-to-back fourth-quarter touchdown drives that went a combined 133 yards and were capped by a Javian Mallory 3-yard touchdown run and Elija Lofton 3-yard touchdown catch to turn a 21-14 deficit into a brief 28-21 lead. The defense forced and recovered a fumble in between those touchdown drives for the offense.

FSU (3-4, 1-3 ACC) then tied it on their next play on a Robinson 75-yard touchdown catch, beating Xavier Lucas in coverage on a deep pass, to make it 28-28 with 2:39 left to play and ultimately force overtime.

Daniels found Robinson for a 20-yard touchdown on the opening possession of overtime. Miami responded with a 25-yard Mallory rushing touchdown.

Mensah hit Toney for a 3-yard touchdown and Toney threw a pass to Cooper Barkate for the ensuing two-point conversion in double overtime to put Miami up 43-35. The defense took care of the rest — an Omar Thornton sacked on first down, a forced incompletion on second down, an FSU false start and another incompletion on third down and then the two failed Hail Marys ending with Fitzgerald’s interception.

“If things aren’t going your way and you can still find a way to win in that fashion, I think it shows the guts of your team,” said Mensah, who finished the game completing 23 of 34 passes for 326 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. “I think we’ve got that.”

Added Toney, who caught 11 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns: “No matter how much adversity we face, nothing can hold us back. … That just says a lot about our identity.”

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This story was originally published October 18, 2026 at 2:30 PM.