Darian Mensah threw for 401 yards and five touchdowns in his debut as the Hurricanes’ quarterback and Malachi Toney caught 11 passes for a career-high 234 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 7 Miami to a comfortable 45-6 season-opening victory over host Stanford on Friday night.
It was Miami’s most lopsided season-opening win against an FBS-level opponent since 2003 when it won 48-9 at Louisiana Tech.
The Hurricanes opened a season of high expectations on a high note after reaching the CFP National Championship Game last season.
Toney picked up right where he left off following his phenomenal freshman season as he struck a Heisman pose after each of his touchdown catches. But Toney may have company in the Heisman discussion if Mensah continues to put together performances like he did Friday. Mensah completed 27 of 30 passes and found Toney for scores of 23 and 2 yards in the first half.
They hooked up for a 47-yard score in the third quarter.
Mensah joined C.J. Stroud and Dillon Gabriel as the only quarterbacks since 2021 to complete 90 percent of their passes and throw for 400 or more yards and five or more touchdowns in a game.
The Cardinal (1-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) were unable to follow up a season-opening win over Hawaii, giving up 549 total yards. Davis Warren completed 21 of 41 passes for 214 yards, but was held without a touchdown.
Caden High’s six catches for 92 yards and tight end Benji Blackburn’s seven catches for 52 yards were two offensive bright spots for Stanford.
Charlie Eckhardt’s acrobatic fourth-quarter interception of Miami backup quarterback Luke Nickel was another.
But the Hurricanes did not allow a sack, and Stanford’s defense did little to rattle Mensah.
Daylyn Upshaw hauled in a 5-yard touchdown pass from Mensah to give the Hurricanes a 28-6 halftime lead.
Mensah would later connect with his fellow Duke transfer Cooper Barkate on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 11:51 left in the third quarter.