Ward quiets Gators, jabs fans in big Miami debut

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Quarterback Cam Ward made his way toward the Miami tunnel, green-and-orange clad Hurricanes fans screaming to get his attention.

Coach Mario Cristobal stopped him, then directed him to a large contingent who were hollering behind their bench the entire game so Ward could wave and high-five.

Nobody could blame the Hurricanes for lingering on the field postgame or for Cristobal wanting his players to salute the fans. This win meant just a little bit more, on the road, against an in-state rival, in a stadium where Miami last won 22 years ago.

Ward was easily the biggest difference-maker in a dominant 41-17 win over Florida on Saturday, a statement that all the hype surrounding the Hurricanes over the past nine months was well-deserved. By the third quarter, chants of “Let’s Go Canes” could be heard in the Swamp.

“Some advice to the fans: If you’re going to be loud, you have to be loud when we’re huddling. Can’t just be loud once we break the huddle. By that time, there’s no point. We hear the play. We communicated already. But it was a good atmosphere to play in. And I’m just excited now we were able to get a victory.”

Miami QB Cam Ward

When the day began, over 90,000 fans filled the seats, but Ward quieted them with his escapability, smarts, and laser-like accuracy, throwing for 385 yards — the most in a debut in program history — three touchdowns and one interception.

Afterward, clearly perturbed that one of the biggest storylines entering the game was that the Canes never had played in an environment that loud before, Ward had a message for Gator fans.

“I played at USC,” said Ward, who transferred to Miami from Washington State. “USC wasn’t packed, but it was louder than this. I played in Oregon, it was louder than this. The Pac-12 gets misspoken for. Some advice to the fans: If you’re going to be loud, you have to be loud when we’re huddling. Can’t just be loud once we break the huddle. By that time, there’s no point. We hear the play. We communicated already. But it was a good atmosphere to play in. And I’m just excited now we were able to get a victory.”

Ward was one of the biggest reasons why. His surprise arrival in January from the portal, after initially declaring for the NFL draft, served to buoy hopes that the Hurricanes could have a breakthrough season in Year 3 under Cristobal. Miami also signed other key players from the portal, including Damien Martinez, Tyler Baron and Meesh Powell, but Ward garnered all the attention after his standout spring performance.

He showed why now that the games actually count.

“Yeah, he’s not bad,” Cristobal said with a smile during his postgame news conference. “All the stuff that you guys were probably wondering during camp: ‘Man, they talk a lot about Cam Ward. Is he really that good?’ He’s just scratching the surface. Really accurate, improvised, extended plays. Every team has a spark plug. Every game has a spark plug. He was the guy today.”

There were plenty of highlight-reel plays, but perhaps his best came in the third quarter. Ward was forced out of the pocket and scrambled to his left. From there, he saw Jacolby George in the back of the end zone. Ward fired a pass and George caught it, tiptoeing to stay in bounds for the 23-yard score.

“He’s one of the best receivers in the scramble drill, and when you have a receiving corps like that, you have a tight end court like us, it’s hard to play man and play zone, because at some point someone is going to break on the defense,” Ward said. “We really didn’t get a chance to get in our bag like that as an offense [like] we really wanted to. Routine plays win games, and that’s something that we did.”

Was that touchdown pass to George really a routine play?

“I’ve made plays like that before, so it’s a routine play to me,” Ward said. “Great catch by him. He was able to have good spatial awareness at the back of the end zone.”

For the fifth time in his career, Ward had 350 passing yards while completing at least 70% of his passes. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the only two FBS quarterbacks with more such games since 2022 are Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix.

Florida rarely pressured him — just nine times on 38 dropbacks. What unfolded looked and felt different, not only because of Ward but because of physical, dominant play up front.

Cristobal, a former offensive lineman, has worked hard to build the Hurricanes in the trenches and said, “We’re playing Miami football now.” Of course, Miami fans have been filled with hope before following a big nonconference win that could potentially help springboard a championship season. Even last year, Miami beat Texas A&M in Week 2 on the way to a 4-0 start. But a botched kneel down against Georgia Tech sent the Hurricanes reeling, and they ended up 7-6.

Cristobal was not ready to make any proclamations after Saturday, but the enormity of the win was not lost on him, either. Now, Miami has to build off it.

“We’ve been working our butts off,” Cristobal said. “Getting a convincing win like that is great, but the most important thing that we talked about was for the first time in a long time, Miami’s had a chance to play a big-time game to start the season, and now we got to show we can handle that success and go get better. Today was a really, really big step.”

Or as Powell said, “This is just one game. We plan to go 16 more.”