College football coaches just gave the Miami Hurricanes’ season-opening tilt against Notre Dame a little bit more pop
The Canes and Irish will form one of the weekend’s biggest matchups
The Miami Hurricanes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are renewing their historic rivalry to open both teams’ respective seasons on August 31 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. It was already a game coming into the weekend that was hyped as one of the biggest of the early college football season.
Now, thanks to college coaches around the country, it’s officially a top 10 battle between the rivals. The preseason Coaches Poll came out on Monday, and both teams were ranked in the top 10. Notre Dame came in at #5, and Miami was #10.
It’s not a surprising spot for the Fighting Irish, even with several key players now gone from a national runner up squad. The Irish will have to replace QB Riley Leonard, OL Sam Pendleton, DL Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills, and DB Xavier Watts and Benjamin Morrison, among others. But Notre Dame still has more than enough talent to open up their season with a road win over a Miami team that the coaches appear to like.
The biggest questions for the Hurricanes lie with who will separate from a group of mostly talented but unproven pass catchers. LSU transfer CJ Daniels appears poised to take the lead there, but the Canes have a bevy of young talent – including Malachi Toney and Jojo Trader – who could explode onto the scene and make an impact.
Miami must also prove it’s better than pedestrian in the secondary, where they were abysmal for much of the 2024 season. New coaches (DC Corey Hetherman, DB Zac Etheridge and Will Harris) and talent (Xavier Lucas from Wisconsin and Zechariah Poyser from Jacksonville State) offer hope that things will indeed be different this season.
The Canes and Irish put toe to leather at 7:30 pm ET on Sunday, August 31.
