Monday Musings: Famu Tidbits; A Big Day For A Big Former Hurricane

Happy Monday, everybody. And, once again, despite it being Florida A&M it is a Miami Hurricanes victory Monday.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the Miami Hurricanes-related tidbits floating around in my brain.

1) Miami destroyed Florida A&M. It’s hard to take much from it when you outclass an opponent that badly.

But there were a few tidbits that stood out to me.

JJ Dunnigan looked as cool as the other side of the pillow stepping in with Miami readjusting its secondary following the Xavier Lucas news. 5 tackles, flying around the field. He really looks like what you’d expect from how much the coaches have been raving about him.

I talked about Javian Mallory before. But lord have mercy, he’s gonna be a good one at the U in the coming years. The Vance Spafford touchdown catch was the play of the night (go watch it if you missed it), but Mallory’s 52-yard run showed off his vision, speed, and agility, as he tightroped down the sideline the last 10 yards for the touchdown. He showed it in the spring, and he showed it on Thursday.

Of course, Darian Mensah, Malachi Toney and the starters were great, but Luke Nickel, man, he had some impressive throws. He turned eight of his throws (all completions) into long touchdowns to Somourian Wingo, Vandrevius Jacobs, and Spafford. And to Wingo and Jacobs, man, those were laid in there deep IN STRIDE, so don’t talk to me about the coverage. Impressive touch.

And here’s to Marty Brown getting some love for this blitz pickup on Toney’s touchdown catch. He saved Mensah from a crunching hit.

2) Francis Mauigoa had a big day in his NFL debut.

It’s not every day that you get to say that about a guard, but Mauigoa was in rare form for the Giants against the Cowboys. He did not allow a single QB pressure in 36 pass blocking snaps, the first time for a rookie in Week 1 since 2018, per The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov (quoting NextGen Stats).

Impressive, impressive stuff.

3) Prediction: Miami 47, Wake Forest 23

The Hurricanes head to Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Friday night to continue with the non-Saturday night run of games that Miami has been on to start the season. Wake comes into the matchup 2-0, barely, after getting by Purdue 38-36 in double overtime on Saturday.

For the first time, Miami’s defense will get somewhat of a test, as the Demon Deacons put together a couple of first half scoring drives to keep the game relatively close. But if Wake thought Purdue could score, Miami is about to show what a real offense can do.

Toney goes for 150+, Mensah goes for 350+, and Miami wins going away.