Led by Cam Ward’s five touchdown passes, No. 10 Hurricanes trample Ball State

MIAMI GARDENS — The Hurricanes gave Cam Ward the keys to the offense, and for the third week in a row, he drove it to another blowout victory.

The Washington State transfer threw for 346 yards and five touchdowns as No. 10 Miami (3-0) rolled to a 62-0 victory over Ball State at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday. The Hurricanes set a program record with 750 total yards.

“Progress,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “There’s 12 chapters in a regular season and then you earn the rest from there. We’re improving. We’re getting better. We see a lot of areas where we can get better. we have done a good job of shutting out, closing out the noise and really focusing on our football family, and that’s all that matters.”

Miami fans needed to wait nearly two and a half hours for kickoff due to lightning in the area. The Hurricanes waited out the delay in the locker room, listening to music, watching other games and staying fed and hydrated.

“I was watching the Apple Cup over there,” Ward said. “My boy John (Mateer) got him one. That’s cool. I was watching the Apple Cup and just vibing in there. I was watching the LSU game a little bit. Then once we got later into it, then we turned it off and started locking back in, playing music. It felt like Little League halftime. We were in there snacking. It was a good time with the team.”

The fans who stuck around would not be disappointed in the result.

The Hurricanes went ahead 3-0 after a short field goal by Andy Borregales on their first drive. Jacolby George dropped a pass that would have extended the drive or could have been a touchdown, but he made up for it on Miami’s next drive.

George nearly scored (but was ruled out of bounds) and had two catches for 47 yards as the Hurricanes drove down the field, ending with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Ward to Xavier Restrepo.

Ward nearly tossed a second, 60-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Horton, but it was canceled out by a hands-to-the-face penalty on left tackle Markel Bell, who was filling in for the injured Jalen Rivers.

The Hurricanes did not pay for the mistake, though. Ward tossed a short pass to running back Chris Johnson Jr., who was a track star at Dillard High. Johnson showed off the speed, blazing past Ball State’s defenders for a 37-yard touchdown.

As the second quarter approached its end, the Hurricanes went on a scoring binge. Tight end Elijah Arroyo caught a 21-yard pass from Ward to put Miami up 24-0. On Ball State’s next drive, Tyler Baron pressured Cardinals quarterback Kadin Semonza into an interception, caught by Elijah Alston. Two plays later, Ward connected with Restrepo for their second touchdown of the game.

Ward ended the first half with four touchdowns and 317 passing yards. He kept rolling in the second half, throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jacolby George for his fifth of the night. It was his first five-touchdown game at the FBS level in his career, and it concluded his night.

“We’re hitting on all cylinders in the passing game but, you know, you’ll ask Cam and he’ll tell you that he felt like he left some things out there that could have made it a better day,” Cristobal said. “And that’s the way we want to stay.

The Hurricanes brought the second-team players in during the third quarter, and they rewarded the team with more point. Ajay Allen rushed for 104 yards on seven carries, scoring a 56-yard touchdown.

Emory Williams, playing in his first game since suffering a season-ending arm injury against FSU last year, threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to highly touted freshman tight end Elija Lofton for the freshman’s first career touchdown. Jordan Lyle added a 7-yard touchdown run, as well, as UM completed the rout.

“From start to finish, I thought we became a better football team,” Cristobal said. “I thought we left the field different than how we entered, just finishing drives, getting them off the field [with] three-and-outs more successfully. [The] third down defense continued to play at a high level and got a shutout and really controlled the middle eight, which is a big thing for us so, all in all, just a really good performance and looking forward to a great opportunity next week.”

Five takeaways

1. What more can be said about Cam Ward?

Cam Ward has been nothing short of stellar since he arrived at UM. The veteran quarterback has conducted the Hurricanes’ offense fantastically through three games. He is the first Miami quarterback to throw for 300 or more yards in three straight games to begin a season.

“Show me somebody who is playing better than him in the country through three games,” Ball State coach Mike Neu said.

Ward has 11 touchdowns against one interception through three games. He had a bit of a slow start on Saturday but got into a rhythm as the game went on. Because of Ward’s performance, the Hurricanes hardly needed to run the ball — they had only eight rushing attempts in the first half.

“We expect that out of Cam from just training with him in the offseason, from throwing with him whenever,” George said. “We have seen it before. It’s new to y’all, but we’ve been seeing it.”

After throwing a touchdown on UM’s first drive of the second half, Miami subbed in Williams to finish the game.

2. Defensive line transfers continue to perform

Miami needed to mine the transfer portal for new defensive linemen, and they struck gold this offseason.

Simeon Barrow Jr., Tyler Baron and Elijah Alston combined for three sacks in the victory Saturday, and Alston had the interception.

Baron has been a revelation at edge rusher since the start of the season. He has 4.5 sacks and five tackles for loss this season.

Miami also held Ball State to just 6 rushing yards in the win.

“I feel like that’s just executing the play,” Alston said. “Whatever they call, we’ve got to go do it. The best thing you can do is just do your job. Don’t try to overdo it, don’t try to be Superman, don’t under do it. Just do your job.”

3. Hurricanes win the middle eight

Coaches sometimes tout winning the “middle eight” section of a game — the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. Miami did that in dominant fashion against Ball State.

The Hurricanes scored a pair of touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half, then scored again 2:34 into the second half, putting the game securely in hand.

4. Absolutely dominant defense

Ball State may not have an excellent offense, but the Hurricanes took care of business and then some on defense.

Miami shut out the Cardinals, and every Ball State drive ended with either a punt or a turnover (including a turnover on downs). The Hurricanes held the Cardinals to just 115 total yards.

The Hurricanes ended the game with four sacks, nine tackles for loss and an interception. Linebackers Francisco Mauigoa and Wesley Bissainthe led the team with six tackles each.

5. Still some mistakes to work out

Although the Hurricanes rolled to another rout, Cristobal would be the first to tell you they did not play perfectly.

George dropped a pass that definitely would have been a first down and could have been a touchdown. Baron, who has been excellent, had two offsides penalties. Wesley Bissainthe was called for a roughing the passer penalty, as well.

UM ended the game with eight penalties for 85 yards, so Miami still has things to work on as they head to Tampa next weekend to play South Florida.

“The one area that was disappointing was the penalties,” Cristobal said. “We certainly, on special teams, are trying hard to become a better special teams unit and we had some bright spots early on kickoff and then after we got tangled up on some of the return game stuff that is not us. We have got to do a better job.”