MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — They call him “Baby Jesus.”
Malachi Toney is 5-foot-11, quicker than a fox and faster than a cheetah — or so it seems on the football field. He’s also 17 years old and should be in high school right about now rather than catching six passes for the 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes.
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Nevertheless, here he is.
So, too, is CJ Daniels, the former Liberty and LSU wideout whose one-handed touchdown grab Sunday night here at Hard Rock Stadium may go down as one of the best of the entire season — a sprawling, horizontal extension of a mitt that, surely, was glazed in glue.
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It’s a wonder what quarterback Carson Beck is capable of with receivers who can, you know, catch.
A year removed from leading a Georgia team that dropped more passes than any in the country, Beck opened his Miami career with a crew of wideouts that routinely got open, gobbled passes from the sky and helped their quarterback to a solid line: 20 of 30, 205 yards and two touchdowns.
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Beck’s debut highlighted Sunday’s top-10 duel here on a muggy, rainy and all-together soup-like night in South Florida. Miami beat sixth-ranked and defending national runner-up Notre Dame, 27-24, in a sort-of fashion that makes you think the Canes are real, like really real, like playoff and championship real.
Receivers? Check.
Quarterback? Check.
But, to the surprise perhaps of many, Mario Cristobal’s team has plenty more, or at least showed it for one night.
An offensive line controlling the game? Yes.
A defense making key stops? Mostly, yes.
And — how about this? — a packed stadium at kickoff in the rain? Yes, that too.
Miami Hurricanes kicker Carter Davis kicks the game-winning field goal to beat Notre Dame on Sunday. (Doug Murray/Getty Images)
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Despite it all, the Hurricanes needed to brave a fourth-quarter frenzy from the Irish. They blew second-half leads of 21-7 and 24-14; the offense stalled, gaining zero first downs on four consecutive possessions; and the secondary blew a ghastly coverage on a 68-yarder that Notre Dame turned into the tying touchdown with 3:21 left.
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A stunned Orange-clad crowd sat in silence.
Oh, no. Not again? The Miami of the past two decades? The U that squanders leads? The one that disappoints so often in big games?
“I told them we were going to go score,” Beck said.
The QB found Daniels again and Notre Dame made a costly pass interference penalty to put the Canes in position for their 47-yard go-ahead field goal from Carter Davis.
Still, the Irish took possession with 64 seconds left — a touchdown to win, a field goal to tie and first-year starter CJ Carr at quarterback. They didn’t get past midfield. Defensive freaks Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. sacked Carr on consecutive plays.
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The clock expired and the Hurricanes rushed the field, spilling off the sideline to a celebrating crowd that got to witness, perhaps, Cristobal’s biggest win as head coach?
Sure, Miami opened the season by winning at Florida last year and beat Clemson in overtime here two years ago. But this is Notre Dame, after all, the Canes’ hated rival and the runner-up just a season ago.
Aside from those fourth-quarter blues, Miami showed all of its pieces, the ones Cristobal has been recruiting, signing (paying these days, of course) and developing. The missing piece from years past, a defense that can make key and consistent stops, did enough in the debut of new coordinator Corey Hetherman, formerly at Minnesota and before that the lower rungs of football (Maine, Old Dominion and a place called Pace University).
They swarmed and they suffocated. Through three quarters, the Irish gained 114 yards and had seven points.
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Sure, the end wasn’t pretty.
But did you see Beck and his new crop of wideouts?
Miami Hurricanes freshman WR Malachi Toney made a name for himself in his first collegiate game. (Doug Murray/Getty Images)
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In one of the biggest transfers this offseason, Beck moved from Georgia to Miami for more than just a big payday (his contract is believed to be more than $3 million annually). He appears to have pass-catchers now. The Bulldogs receivers dropped 36 passes in 2024 — tops in the country.
On this night, there was not a single drop. He found seven different receivers and, at one point, completed 12 straight passes. Toney, a rookie from Fort Lauderdale with that catchy Christian nickname (Baby Jesus!), hauled in passes of 13, 16 and 28 yards against, of all teams, the Catholics. On the ground, running back Mark Fletcher got 66 tough yards behind an offensive line that moved people for most of the night.
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Cristobal called Toney “special” and said the staff has been trying to “keep him a secret.”
Well, the cat’s out of the bag. Baby Jesus has arrived.
“He’s just getting started,” Cristobal said.
It didn’t matter that this was a wet-soaked, physical affair — a “muddy and bloody night,” as Cristobal called it. His receivers made a show of it — rain or no rain. Daniels’ 20-yard touchdown catch belongs on the year-ending 2025 highlight reel after Week 1.
Down on the ground after taking a hit, Beck looked up to the Jumbotron for the replay of the catch and says he thought, “Oh, my gosh.”
The environment played into his new defense’s nasty ways, too. The Canes forced an early fumble, slowed Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (33 yards on 10 carries) and got a wild turnover on a freaky play in the third quarter.
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His team nursing a touchdown lead, Bain, the Canes’ 275-pound defensive end, intercepted a pass that was tipped off another player’s fingertips and then, actually, kicked into the air by a second player. He swooped underneath the tipped and kicked pass in a turnover that Miami turned into a field goal.
It all came in front of more than 66,000 roiling and rain-soaked fans — a veritable Orange bowl of soup here to root on their Canes against that hated independent team from up north. Former head coach Jimmy Johnson got the night started, cranking the Hurricane siren to a stadium packed at kickoff — something that long-time folks here say is a rarity.
Are the Canes back?
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Is this the year?
Cristobal, in his fourth year as coach, has been building up to this moment right? Five wins in his first year, seven wins the next, 10 wins last year. Remember, they were just one game away from advancing to the playoff.
Perhaps it has finally arrived — the championship-contending Canes, destined to return to glory with a former SEC quarterback who’s got himself a few pairs of trusting hands this time around.
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