South Florida Showdown

Hard Rock Stadium Gets Its First Taste of College Football on Thursday Night as #7 Miami Battles In-State Competition Against Florida A&M

After an impressive Week 1 performance, yet not moving up in the Top 25, Miami looks to prove their dominance against the Florida A&M Rattlers in a classic in-state FBS vs FCS matchup. Coach Mario Cristobal looks to keep leaning on his star players to build an early season rhythm before breaking back into ACC conference play. On the other side of the ball, the Florida A&M Rattlers look at this opportunity to showcase their talent against a national powerhouse.

What to Watch For?

• Can Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney Continue Their Heisman Caliber Campaigns?

  • Mensah lit up a Stanford secondary for 401 yards and 5 touchdown, with only 3 incompletions

  • Being Mensah’s #1 Target, Toney racked in 234 yards and 3 touchdowns on 12 reception

  • Florida A&M only allowed 187 yards through the air last week (vs South Carolina State) and grabbed 2 interceptions

  • Look for Mensah and Toney to attack this secondary early to test the true strength of this Florida A&M defense

• Can Florida A&M Fend Off the Vicious Front Four of Miami

  • Miami held Stanford to just 3.4 yard/rush attempt and 5.3 yards/pass attempt

  • The front line of Florida A&M need to give QB Isaiah Knowles time to make the reads for an efficient pass game

  • If Miami’s front four win the battle in the trenches, this could be a long night for the Rattlers

• Will We See Miami Use More of Their Ground Attack?

  • Miami RB Mark Fletcher Jr was only handed the ball 13 times for 40 yards in a 45-6 victory vs Stanford

  • With pretty clear advantages in the trenches, is this a good game to get Fletcher Jr into good form early in the season?

The Verdict and Early Bet Leans

• I expect Miami to lean on their ground game a little bit more to start establishing that aspect of their game for their upcoming schedule

• I don’t see Florida A&M being able to corrupt the synergy between Mensah and Toney, probably putting this game out of reach at halftime

• Current Odd (on time of post)

  • Miami (FL) -55.5

  • O/U 62.5

• Early Leans

  • Florida A&M +55.5 (This game could be out of reach by halftime; with backups potentially coming in for Miami, a backdoor cover or a slow second half is possible)

  • Under 62.5 (Miami could potentially hit this total themselves but if this game gets out of hand, look for Miami to cook the clock by giving plenty of reps to their depth running backs)

• Full Game Prediction

  • 48-6 Miami