Miami came within one victory of completing its return to college football’s biggest stage last season.
The Hurricanes’ message entering 2026, however, is that getting close does not mean they have arrived.
At the Atlantic Coast Conference Kickoff media event in Charlotte on Wednesday, Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal pushed back against any suggestion that last season’s run to the national championship game represented the completion of the program’s rebuild.
“We just got to shut up and work because we haven’t proven anything yet,” Cristobal said.
Miami has improved in each of Cristobal’s four seasons, going from 5-7 in 2022 to 13-3 last year, when it entered the College Football Playoff as the final at-large selection before winning three games and losing 27-21 to Indiana in the title game.
“We’re winning more, and we feel like we’re just getting started,” Cristobal said.
Maintaining that progress will require another successful quarterback transition. Darian Mensah, who transferred from ACC champion Duke, follows Cam Ward and Carson Beck as the third veteran transfer to take over the Hurricanes’ offense in as many seasons.
Mensah led the ACC with 3,973 passing yards and 34 touchdowns last season. He said watching Ward and Beck succeed in offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s system helped sell him on Miami.
“This is my team,” Mensah said. “This is my offense. I’m excited to go compete with the guys.”
The Hurricanes open the season Sept. 4 at Stanford.
–ACC changes championship game tiebreaker
The ACC has revised its tiebreaking procedure after last season’s five-team second-place logjam resulted in Duke reaching the conference championship game instead of a higher-ranked Miami team.
Head-to-head results will remain the primary tiebreaker. If teams are still tied after that, the conference will use the Team Success Ranking developed by SportSource Analytics, a measurement designed to compare each team’s overall body of work.
The change comes as the ACC moves to a nine-game conference schedule. Twelve teams will play nine league games this season, while five will play eight because of previously scheduled nonconference matchups. The conference said teams will not receive an excessive advantage or penalty based on the number of ACC games they play.
Duke advanced last season through the fifth tiebreaker, conference opponents’ winning percentage, after five teams finished tied for second place.
With each Power 4 champion now guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff, commissioner Jim Phillips said the league needed a system more likely to place its strongest two teams in Charlotte.
“You have to do everything you can to position your championship game with those two best teams,” Phillips said. “Head-to-head matters. That’s always most important. Then we will look at the grouping and how teams fared. It will come down to body of work.”
–Pressure mounting on Norvell, Florida State
Florida State coach Mike Norvell did not try to sugarcoat the pressure of his seventh season.
The Seminoles are 7-17 over the past two years, a stunning reversal after they won 19 consecutive games and started 13-0 as ACC champions in 2023.
“In reality, the words don’t matter, it’s about the action,” Norvell said. “That’s our focus.”
Norvell believes Florida State has the elements to improve after 19 true freshmen appeared in at least four games last season. He also highlighted the defense entering its second year under coordinator Tony White and the recent addition of former Texas coach Tom Herman to the staff.
The Seminoles showed flashes during a 5-7 season in 2025, including an opening win over Alabama, but struggled to close out several tight games. Norvell said the program’s previous climb provides a blueprint, even if repeating it will require more than a persuasive offseason speech.
“The last two years, as college football has changed, continuing to evolve, we have to be better,” Norvell said. “This past season we showed glimpses of playing at a very high level. Big wins, some great moments, but also had some disappointing results in some close games and opportunities we did not capitalize on.”
–Virginia names Pribula starting quarterback
Virginia removed one question from its preseason checklist when coach Tony Elliott confirmed Missouri transfer Beau Pribula will begin the season as the starting quarterback.
Pribula beat out fellow transfer Eli Holstein after passing for 1,941 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions while adding 297 yards and six scores on the ground in 10 games for the Tigers last season.
Elliott said Pribula earned the job based on his full body of work and informed the team of the decision at the beginning of the summer.
The Cavaliers, who won double-digit games for the first time since 1989 and reached last season’s ACC championship game, open at home against NC State on Aug. 29, a game which was originally slated to be played in Brazil.
–Field Level Media
