The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Pittsburgh Panthers 2026 Edition

Miami did not suffer the rampant disrespect of Pitt or their loudmouth coach, and handled business on the field so TALK ABOUT THAT, PAT!

Final score: Miami 52 Pitt 23.

Craig T. Smith has your game recap

And Mike Schiffman has your 3 stars from the game.

And now, let’s get into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

• A win! I will never take this for granted!
• The 2001 replica throwback jerseys. These were SO dope. I, like many others, think these should be Miami’s standard uniforms moving forward. I mean, LOOK AT THE DETAILS!

• Beating Pitt again. Their coach and players talked cash shit last year, through the offseason, at ACC Media Days, at their own Media Day, and this week. And got smacked the FUCK down.
• QB Darian Mensah looked every bit the Heisman trophy candidate that he is today. 31/37 passing (83.8% completions), for 387 yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions, 5 carries for -12 yards.
• Mensah’s cumulative stats this year: 165/204 passing, 80.9% completions, 2,151 yards, 22 touchdowns, 1 interception, 20 carries, 73 yards, 2 touchdowns.
• WR Malachi Toney is incredible, and his performance was record-setting and spectacular. A 16 catches for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns on the day.
• Toney’s 16 catches set a single-game record for the Hurricanes….breaking his own record (tied with Mike Harley) that he set last year against Pitt.
• Remember when Pitt players and coaches said they weren’t concerned about Toney and had the scheme to stop him? LOLOLOL. Hilarious.
• In 2 years against Pitt, Toney has posted the following stats: 29 catches, 323 yards, and 5 touchdowns. But hey, they have him all figured out, according to their loudmouth players and coach. Good to know. Great job.
• Toney’s cumulative stats this year: 66 catches, 955 yards, 11 touchdowns, 3 carries, 50 yards, 1/1 passing, 2pt conversion.
• RB Javian Mallory. 7 carries for 47 yards and 2 touchdowns. (*whispers* I think he might should be the starter, you guys)
• RB Jordan Lyle. Only 4 carries for 31 yards, but he’s starting to look like the player who won the starting RB job out of fall camp in 2025 again. And we NEED THAT.
• RB Mark Fletcher Jr. 13 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown. I know Pitt’s rushing defense is stout, but Fletcher looks like he’s got some hitch in his giddyup to my eye.
• S J.J. Dunnigan. MY GUY. 5 tackles, sack, TFL, forced fumble. Just hand him his Freshman All-American trophy now.
• LB Mo Toure. 5 tackles and solid run stopping.
• DB Bryce Fitzgerald. 4 tackles, sack, TFL, PBU, QB hurry. Played multiple positions in the secondary as well.
• EDGE Marquise Lightfoot was particularly disruptive when he dropped into coverage on zone blitzes.
• DT Justin Scott flashed his elite talent multiple times, including a couple of big run stops.
• LB Ezekiel Marcelin made a nice impact in his return to action, as well.
• All the depth guys who got snaps. Sure, there were yards and points allowed, but being able to empty the bench through the 2nd team into the 3rd team for game snaps in an ACC game is a big bonus for the players, and the program.
• K Jake Weinberg hit his only FG attempt, a 40 yarder to open the scoring, and was dynamite on kickoffs.
• Touchdown, Malachi Toney. Easy as you like when the defense doesn’t allocate enough players to the formation

• Malachi Toney is SO good. Makes me laugh weekly at his exploits. This touchdown was another such instance.

• The greatest team ever is in the building! The 2001 Miami Hurricanes!!!!!

• Sack by MY GUY J.J. DUNNIGAN!!!! The strip and return were (correctly) overturned on review.

• 1 turnover gained — fumble forced by Dunnigan, recovered by Scott
• +1 turnover margin
• 0 turnovers
• 36:20 time of possession.
• 506 yards of offense
• 387 yards passing
• 119 yards rushing
• 6.7 yards per play
• 12.5 yards per completion
• 25 first downs
• 10/15 on 3rd down
• 7-7 red zone scoring — all touchdowns
• 15 chunk plays — 10 passes (15+), 5 run (10+)
• 4 TFLs
• 2 sacks
• Allowed 4/12 on 3rd down
• Allowed 0/2 on 4th down
• Allowed 2.7 yards per rush
• Allowed 1/2 red zone scoring
• Advanced stats show a Miami blowout win….with some issues to address.

The Bad

• Malachi Toney missing 2 snaps with injury. He returned fully, but still.
• Eh. Everything else is ugly.

The Ugly

• 10 penalties for 77 yards. That’s NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
• Also, tons of hidden yardage lost from the penalties. Well over 100. Can’t have.
• OH. Before I continue: that dirty as fuck late hit on Darian Mensah by Pitt. Absolutely unacceptable. Should have been an ejection honestly. That was dirty and late and intentional and Pitt can fuck right off.
• Allowed 15.9 yards per completion.
• Even if you take out the last 49 yard TD on a broken coverage, that number is still 14.25 ypc. Not even in the same UNIVERSE as acceptable.
• Allowed 17 first downs. After 4 consecutive 3-and-outs to start the game, this number should have been lower.
• Allowed 6.6 yards per play. Far too much.
• Allowed 334 yards passing. Again, without the broken coverage play, that’s still 285. Which is better…..but still not good!
• Allowed 11 chunk plays — 9 passes (15+), 2 runs (10+)
• False start, S.J. Alofaituli. BEFORE THE FIRST FUCKING SNAP OF THE GAME. WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!
• Also ugly, this flop acting job by the Pitt defender

• This failed 4th down. Briggs was open at the sticks. So do that. Also a better throw to Upshaw converts. Also a better catch by Upshaw converts. Just not good enough across the board. This was compounded by Pitt scoring their first touchdown of the day just 6 plays later on the ensuing drive.

• Another week, another Hail Mary situation that Miami handled poorly. And before the FSU idiots hop in my mentions, the last play was correct. So shut up and hold that L.

• Holding on freshman TE Gavin Mueller negated a Mark Fletcher Jr. touchdown on the first drive of the game. Miami would end up settling for a field goal. Can’t have that. Cost us 4 points.
• Miami’s OL continued to struggle early. After the 1st play false start, they gave up a sack against a twist/stunt from the Pitt front. That’s something that FSU had tons of success with last week, and the issue persisted today.
• False start, Ben Congdon.
• Holding, SJ Alofailtuli. This was declined, BUT THAT’S NOT THE FUCKING POINT.
• Illegal blind side block, Daylyn Upshaw. Same play as the Alofaituli hold, which is why it was declined. Negated a nice run by Fletcher.
• False start; SJ Alofaituli. Get him off the field.
• Illegal receiver downfield, Malachi Toney. This was a penalty based on alignment.
• Holding, Elija Lofton. Negated a 48 yard completion to Malachi Toney down to the Pitt 2.
• False start, Samson Okunlola
• Pass interference, Brody Jennings
• Allowing a safety after a defensive goal line stand at the 1.
• Allowing a last-drive touchdown to their backups because our freshmen in the secondary blew a coverage and left somebody all alone.

Team Grades

Offense: B C

I know, I know. “52 points and only a B, Cam?!?!?!?” Correct. Counting numbers and advanced stats were nice, but the run game struggled, the offensive line REALLY struggled early, we had a failed 4th down attempt, our lowest yards per carry number of the season, and more. So take a demerit for each of those, and you see how I got to this grade. There was a LOT to like, and I love this offense looking like the #1 offense in America again, but I’m a tough grader and you know this.

OH. And the penalties. Another demerit. And it’s a full letter grade for those. So it’s actually a C grade. Fight me.

Defense: B

I thought the defense played well for the most part. But Pitt got some motion in the passing game that you’d like to control, and I’m not really counting the broken coverage on the last touchdown. Still, some positive signs, a much better game not getting coached circles around like happened last week, and a much more physical, consistent effort overall. I know looking at this game, especially with Pitt scoring all of their points in the final 3 quarters, feels like this should be lower, but nah.

Special Teams: C

1/1 FGs. Good kickoffs. Good punting. 2 letter grade demerit for Somourian Wingo fielding a punt going backwards inside the Miami 5 yard line.

Coaching: B

This would be an A, BUT ALL THE FUCKING PENALTIES earn a full-grade demerit. Otherwise, I liked the focus of the team to come out and prove why they’re ranked #1 in America. And, while doing so, inflict pain and misery to an opponent who had talked shit for the past year, if not longer. Player rotations were good — OTHER THAN THAT ONE — and everyone was dialed in. I saw much of what I wanted to see this week after last week’s putrid performance against FSU, and I’m giving credit to the coaches for that success.

So bravo for the performance, but more work is needed. Alofaituli CANNOT continue to play at RG. And the penalties MUST stop. There’s more, but those are the immediately existential issues facing this team, and the coaches need to address them immediately, if not sooner.

That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.

Go Canes