Cote: In rout of Stanford, Mensah-to-Toney makes these Canes better than last year

It took all of a few seconds for Darian Mensah to properly introduce himself to Miami Hurricanes fans on Friday night, and for Malachi Toney to offer a reminder what it looks like when great gets better.

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First offensive play of the new college football season for UM. The new quarterback Mensah with a short completion that Toney turns into a 48-yard play, bouncing up from the tackle and sneaking in a quick little Heisman pose for good measure. Then scoring on a 23-yard pass moments later to ignite Miami’s 45-6 rout-win at Stanford.

Absurdly early, fan voting for the Heisman Trophy happens to begin in a few days, on September 9. And the Canes have themselves a candidate. Make it two?

Toney, the second-year Cane still in his teens, had 10 catches for 182 yards and two touchdowns and Mensah, the transfer from Duke, completed 18 of 21 throws for 253 yards and three TDs … in the first half.

Toney would finish with 12 catches for a UM-record 234 yards and three scores. Eddie Brown had held that yards mark since 1984. And Mensah would finish 27 of 30 for 401 yards and a school-record-tying five TDs. One may be the best, most electric college receiver in America today. The other is Cristobal’s latest gem-find in the QB portal, following Cam Ward in 2024 and Carson Beck in ‘25.

Mensah to Malachi. M&M. Mmm, mmm good.

“We’re not surprised by their chemistry,” coach Mario Cristobal said of Mensah-to-Toney. “We’ve been seeing that since spring ball. Man, they are relentless.”

“It’s amazing, man,” Toney said postgame of his new QB. “The sky’s the limit. There is no limit.”

Said Mensah: “He knows how to get open and make my job easier.”

Miami will see many defenses better than Stanford’s, but Mensah’s accuracy on deep balls and Toney’s speed and ability to get open will beat most of them.

Toney changed uniforms to No. 1 this season.

“Well, I’m the No. 1 receiver so I might as well wear it,” he says, reasonably enough.

Miami added another No 1 -quality wideout in Cooper Barkate, who followed Mensah to Coral Gables from Duke. Barkate joined the Friday fun with a 34-yard scoring catch.

Reuben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor, two of the three stars Miami lost to the first round of the NFL Draft, cheered UM from the sideline.

“Almost put ‘em in the game,” kidded Cristobal.

The Hurricanes flew 2,575 air miles west for their season opener, the longest mainland trip for a conference matchup in all of FBS. It was worth it. Because No. 7-ranked Miami provided early indication that this UM team may be even better than the one that reached the College Football Playoff national championship game last year before falling to Indiana.

Stanford, after beating Hawaii in a Week 0 opener, got flat-out steamrolled in this ACC matchup. The sloppy Cardinal hurt itself with dropped passes and myriad penalties, but had no answers for Miami and that offense.

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As “statement games” go, this one underlined that last season — the closest UM had come to a sixth national title in a quarter century — was no fluke.

Across town in Miami, the Dolphins are in opposite shape, trying to climb out of a quarter-century’s mediocrity and all but starting over. Young and inexperienced. Rebooting. And doing it against an unforgiving schedule that is the NFL’s second-toughest.

The Hurricanes are as good as they’ve been in a quarter century, fully formed under Cristobal, coming off a national championship game appearance — and better than last year, at least to my eye. And benefitting from a soft-as-Charmin schedule.

UM does not face its first loss-threat game until Week 5, at Clemson. And even there, the Canes have a 67.1 percent win-likelihood via ESPN’s Football Power Index computers. In effect, The U has a soft opening tantamount to a four-game preseason before the first legit challenge.

The one and only game Miami is not favored to win is vs. its only currently ranked opponent, No. 4 Notre Dame, on Nov. 7 in South Bend. There Miami’s FPI win probability is put at 29.8 percent. In the 10 other regular season games it’s 84.2 or higher, and in the 90s six times.

Given last year’s national runnerup finish, the soft schedule and the transfer bull’s-eyes led by the Mensah, I’m surprised this team isn’t higher than No. 7 in the initial Associated Press poll. It’s a tweak of disrespect. See how that changes if Miami can dodge the upset, the pratfall, and heads 8-0 to South Bend.

Hey, make no mistake Cristobal has his never-look-ahead blinders on, dialed into making this about a parade of 1-0 weeks and demanding his players think like that. “The goal is to go 1-0. Business trip,” says the California-raised Mensah.

Adds running back Mark Fletcher: “At the end of the day, the message that Cristobal gives us is just taking that mindset, taking our Miami culture with us, packing it on the airplane with us to be mentally and physically ready to go.”

Cristobal afterward was typically critical, and seeing what needs fixing even in a 39-point win.

“A lot of stuff to clean up,” he said. “Miles to go.”

Coaches and players can take ‘em one game at a time and think like that. Fine. Doesn’t mean we must, though. The looking ahead, the anticipation, is half the fun.

It is a marvel how the new age of college sports — of transfer portals and NIL money and recruiting talent beyond high schools — has proved squarely in Cristobal’s wheelhouse. The same new era drove UM men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga into retirement. To Cristobal it’s been a huge challenge that he tackles voraciously, and one he’s won again at the most important position.

There haven’t been many games in UM’s football history when one quarterback and one receiver both looked as great in tandem as Mensah and Toney just did to christen this season of highest hopes.

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And just in time for the start of Heisman voting, imagine that?

This story was originally published September 5, 2026 at 12:20 AM.