Miami Hurricanes still undefeated but get a needed ‘wake-up call’ at Wake Forest

Let’s say this right off the top: The No. 5 Miami Hurricanes aren’t going to discount any win.

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Blowout, shootout, nail-biter, come-from-behind magic, hold-on-for-dear-life, whatever it may be. There’s value in all of them.

“It’s better to learn from a win than learn from a loss,” Hurricanes center Ryan Rodriguez said, relaying words spoken in the locker room by offensive line coach Alex Mirabal. “So we’re still going to learn regardless.”

And there’s a lot for Miami to learn from — and improve upon — after its 33-20 win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Friday night at Allegacy Federal Stadium.

Miami (3-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) led 24-7 at halftime and pushed its advantage to 31-7 midway through the third quarter because the offense became non-existent and the defense had to bounce back from a pair of bad drives to hold things down against Wake Forest (2-1, 0-1 ACC) in the fourth quarter.

After two blowout wins to begin the season — 45-6 at Stanford, 77-7 at home against Florida A&M — the Hurricanes finally had their resolve tested.

So yes, they came out with the win.

But perhaps even more than that…

“It’s a wake-up call,” quarterback Darian Mensah said. “We’ve got to be better.”

Mensah’s start couldn’t have gone better.

He completed each of his first 24 passes — a Hurricanes and ACC single-game record and two completions shy of tying the Football Bowl Subdivision record — as Miami built that 31-7 lead. He put together scoring drives of 92, 80, 79, 70 and 56 yards, with just one punt mixed in.

It looks all too familiar to Miami’s offensive efforts against Stanford and FAMU, when the Hurricanes averaged more than 700 yards per game and had the backups in by the third quarter.

“When you’re clicking,” Mensah said, “that’s where you want to be.”

And when you’re not, like Miami’s offense wasn’t for the final six drives of the game that amassed a combined 26 yards and zero points?

“You’ve just gotta rely on your teammates,” said Mensah, who finished the game 30 of 34 for 220 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. “I think we did that. … But yeah, we’ve just gotta be better offensively, execute better.”

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But when the offense stagnated late, the defense refound its form. After closing the first half forcing three consecutive three and outs and getting a fourth to open the second half, Miami gave up a pair of second-half touchdowns on consecutive drives to see its lead trim to 33-20 with 14:56 left to play.

The defense didn’t give up anything else after that. Miami’s final four defensive drives:

1.) With Wake Forest pinned back to its end zone, Miami forced a safety when Wake Forest’s Tolu Olajide was called for holding while quarterback Gio Lopez was in the end zone. That pushed Miami’s lead to 33-20.

2.) The Demon Deacons went 64 yards on six plays, highlighted by a 49-yard completion from Lopez to Jack Foley down the right sideline. But on fourth and 5 from the Miami 14, Zechariah Poyser broke up Lopez’s pass attempt up the middle intended for Carlos Hernandez. Turnover on downs.

3.) Wake Forest nearly overcame a holding penalty that set up third and 24 when Lopez completed a pass to Hernandez, who weaved and broke his way through the defense for a 21-yard gain. But on fourth and 3, Lopez’s short pass intended for Antonio Meeks hit the ground as Lopez was being pressured by JJ Dunnigan.

4.) The Demon Deacons went 42 yards on eight plays, converting a fourth down in the process, to get to the Miami 22-yard line. On third and 10, Ethan O’Connor intercepted Lopez’s final pass of the night with 2:24 left to play. Miami’s offense picked up a first down and kneeled out the rest of the game.

“Those were really big stops,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “A ton of credit goes to the defense for just blowing up and executing at a high level.”

The end result was a coveted conference road win. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t perfect. But it was a win.

There will be film to watch, operations to correct, lessons to learn.

And Cristobal will make sure they learn.

“At the end of the day, it comes with consistency,” O’Connor said “We’re nothing without being consistent every single drive. We know bad things are gonna happen. How do we bounce back and how do we stay resilient?”

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