Hurricane Cristobal’s Homecoming

In what turned out to be a fun day for ‘the U’ faithful, Head Coach Mario Cristobal’s new-look Miami Hurricanes gifted long-suffering fans a dominant win for his first game at Hardrock Stadium.

Setting the tone.

Since the initial announcement of his return to Coral Gables, the energy surrounding Head Coach Mario Cristobal’s regime can best be described as different. Level of intensity at practice? Different. Lack of an iced-out turnover chain? Different? Genuine excitement from a fan base that has yet to witness a conference title since realignment, is very different. Even the posture of the university administration, once publicly called out for not caring about football, announcing new stadium designs, and a new athletic director with national championship pedigree? Everything at the University of Miami is different at the moment.

That said, all billion dollar stadium investments, and culture shifting policies aside, Miami Football needs wins on the field. Mario Cristobal’s mission to rebuild the Miami Hurricanes starts with replacement the perception of an under achieving program, and earning wins. With the tone now set, Miami turns its attention to next Saturday’s noon kickoff against Southern Miss – the first meeting between the programs. Fans will be able to watch the game on the ACC network.

Positive takeaways for the Wildcats.

While the final score indicates plenty of room for improvement, many on the BCU sideline were impressed with a standout debut performance of their own. In December 2021, reports that a former JSU quarterback had returned to the SWAC conference, joining the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, after two seasons playing for Deion Sanders, and another honing his skillset at a JUCO in Mississippi, were confirmed. In his first start for the Wildcats, Jalon Jones ended the day with a respectable 11 of 20 for 243 for yards, in addition to 15 yards rushing on six carries.

Acknowledging the young Wildcats’ performance against a wealthy, nationally-ranked FBS program with championship ambitions, BCU’s Head Coach Terry Simms had this to say, postgame:

“First and foremost, I  appreciate the University of Miami and their staff for having us down. This is a first class operation and a good football team. We made some plays. I think they made the plays they were expected to make. We left a lot of plays on the field, but that’s just first game jitters”

“I think our offense showed up – we sputtered a little bit here and there but we we showed that we have a high powered offense. Special teams – we have to pick it up a little bit. We’ve some new guys, some young guys on special teams. We will be better and defensively, you know, we have to play better.”

With this early season challenge out of the way, Bethune-Cookman returns home next week for an important test against reigning Celebration Bowl champions South Carolina State visits Daytona Stadium, September 10.