Last week, against their biggest rivals, the 2026 Miami Hurricanes faced their biggest challenge yet, facing the Florida State Seminoles, where a Hurricanes offense, which is known to score points, struggled more than they had all season. The game was tied at 28 heading into overtime. Both teams scored a touchdown to push to double overtime, where Miami had a clutch offensive possession to score the final touchdown, and the defense held it down to prevent the Seminoles from scoring, triumphing in a 43-35 win. Heading into Week Eight, the Hurricanes remain undefeated at 7-0 and have become the top-ranked team in the nation. Miami will head home to Hard Rock Stadium to host the Pittsburgh Panthers, who started the season 5-0, but have lost their past two games to UNC and Boston College. Now, can the Hurricanes move to 7-0 and keep their top spot in the nation, or, after two rocky losses, can the Panthers upset Miami’s magical 2026 season?
Florida State put an end to Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah’s terrific run throwing the ball. Seminoles safety Ashlynd Barker picked off the 21-year-old quarterback, which happened to be Mensah’s first interception of the season. Even though he threw for 326 passing yards and three touchdowns on 23 completions out of 34 attempts, the 21-year-old still leads the NCAA in completion percentage at nearly 81 percent. If Mensah can find his flow again and continue to be flawless when throwing the ball, he could still pass Bo Nix’s 2023 completion percentage record. Receiver Malachi Toney will continue to be the 21-year-old quarterback’s top option to throw the ball to. Running back Javian Mallory will look to have back-to-back games with over 100 rushing yards after he recorded 108 yards on the ground and two touchdowns in the win over the Seminoles.
Pittsburgh’s 2026 season started strong with quarterback Mason Heintschel leading the charge. During the Panthers Week Five matchup against Virginia Tech, the 19-year-old tore his ACL in his right knee and will miss the remainder of the season. That’s when Pittsburgh decided to put backup quarterback Holden Geriner in as their starter, who went 27 for 44 with 219 passing yards and two interceptions during the Panthers 21-17 loss to UNC. The following week, Corey Dailey started against Boston College, where he tossed 193 passing yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions on 11 of 25 passing attempts in a 27-21 loss. Head coach Pat Narduzzi is still unsure of who will start in Week Eight against the Hurricanes. Regardless, the Panthers’ defense has done enough over the past two games to still keep their team in the hunt. A better understanding of the offense for Geriner or Dailey could potentially lead to another close matchup.
This game will be focused on Miami’s offense. After their close win against Florida State, other teams may have finally found how to crack this high-scoring Hurricanes offense. Mensah, Toney, Mallory, and the rest of Miami’s offense will need to breeze past Pittsburgh’s defense every chance they can on the field. The Panthers offense will need to showcase their best outing after Heintschel’s injury. Yet, Mensah must show why he’s the Heisman favorite and why Miami is coming for college football’s crown in 2026.
While their first two losses of 2026 may have been in close games, I don’t think Pittsburgh will have another close game here. Miami will come back with a vengeance after Florida State almost upset them, the same day teams like Indiana and Georgia were upset. I would expect Toney to have another big game, whether Mensah is back to his exceptional form being perfect throwing the football. If we were to predict a final score, I’d say a 49-21 Hurricanes win.
