A full weekend of football continues on Thursday night. After the NFL kicked off its regular season with a Super Bowl rematch on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers in the first regular-season game from Australia, live from the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Netflix.
But down a level, another team is hoping to continue their own strong start to the season.
And they have two players in particular to rely on in that effort.
Miami, having made a run to the title game a year ago, enters Thursday night’s home opener against FCS opponent Florida A&M fresh off a 45-6 win over Stanford last week.
It was an historic victory for the two players in question.
Sophomore wide receiver Malachi Toney and transfer quarterback Darian Mensah put up record numbers in that victory. Toney caught 12 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns, with the receiving yardage setting a new school record. The three touchdowns he caught from Mensah tied a Miami record as well.
As for Mensah himself, he set school records for the most passing yards, and the most passing touchdowns, in a Miami debut.
What made this combination so dangerous last weekend — and perhaps so dangerous for the rest of the season — is a combination of chemistry, athleticism, and aggression. While this might be the first game for the pair together as Miami teammates, it looked as if the duo was embarking on their tenth season together early against Stanford last weekend.
Take the first touchdown, which comes on a lovely design from offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson. Toney aligns in the slot to the right, and will run a fade route, as does Joshua Moore on the left. Meanwhile tight end Elija Lofton and wide receiver Cooper Barkate run a mesh concept underneath, with Lofton aligning in the left slot and Barkate outside of Toney on the right.
Mensah can read out the mesh underneath, but he likes the matchup with Toney having a two-way go operating out of the slot, so he takes the deep shot:
Toney wins his route with ease, and even though Mensah is under pressure in the pocket thanks to an unblocked defender off the edge, he drops in a good throw and the Hurricanes are out to a 7-0 lead.
Mensah’s third touchdown pass of the night, coming to Daylyn Upshaw on a back-shoulder throw, was an example of pristine accuracy. Watch the placement on this throw as he turns Upshaw to the boundary, and away from the defender:
Toney’s fourth touchdown pass of the night came early in the third quarter, as he connected with Barkate on this 34-yard strike:
This is another great design and call from Dawson. The Cardinal are in three-deep coverage here, and Miami has three receivers to the left side of the formation. Toney is the inside receiver, and he runs a dig route, which draws the attention of the safety in the middle of the field.
Mensah sees that, and knows Barkate is running a post route towards that area vacated by the free safety. Easy read, easy throw, and Miami is back in the end zone.
But now back to the Mensah-Toney connection, on this long touchdown from the second half:
Toney again is aligned in the slot, and runs a vertical route splitting the safeties. With Stanford in a two-deep coverage, that tasks the linebacker with covering Toney, trying to “carry” the vertical route to provide help in the middle of the field, a soft spot in Cover 2.
But once Mensah confirms the coverage after the snap, he knows that the Hurricanes have an advantage. He presses it, as Toney runs right by the linebacker and splits the safeties for six.
All of these plays highlight the explosiveness of Toney and the Miami offense, and how productive this offense can be in Mensah’s hands, as the Duke transfer showed last week that he is more than willing to hang in the pocket and take a it, while remaining aggressive in the downfield passing game.
That should continue tonight against the Rattlers, and it should also worry the rest of the ACC and beyond.
