​MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA – AUGUST 31: Malachi Tony #10 of the Miami Hurricanes celebrates his touchdown with teammate Mark Fletcher Jr. #4 against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half at Hard Rock Stadium on August 31, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) | Getty Images Happy Monday, errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbody. Hope your weeks have gotten off to a great start. It’s another victory Monday. It’s a victory Monday after playing North Carolina. IT’S A VICTORY MONDAY AFTER PLAYING NORTH CAROLINA IN CHAPEL HILL! IT’S A VICTORY MONDAY AFTER A BILL BELICHICK-LED TEAM SCORED 35 POINTS (an actual first in the history of football)!!! What a victory Monday indeed. So, without further added hype, let’s get to it. 1) I wrote about winning a game after a struggle about 11 years ago. I do wonder if it’s applicable here. The Miami Hurricanes led Nebraska 33-10 in the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium in 2015. Nebraska stormed back to tie the game with a last-minute touchdown and two-point conversion. A Corn Elder pick and a walk off field goal delivered victory. I wrote about the game, saying there’s a W in “wrangle”. As in there was a fight but it ended with a win. This is from that piece:But here’s the thing – it didn’t. Miami won. Perhaps my disgust has subsided a great deal over the past week and a half….but the fact still remains. They…..won.And no one has ever complained about an undefeated team. Right now, that’s what Miami is. Their ability to play down to the level of their competition (or below it) has been maddening during Golden’s tenure (and Shannon’s, and the end of Coker’s, etc). I get that. And now, fans will be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I can’t say that’s not an unreasonable way to feel by any means.But, the Canes sit here undefeated. And that’s what Miami will try to maintain on national television against a team that just piled on the points and yards in alarming quantity with a backup freshman quarterback last week. With Gunner Kiel out, the Bearcats will be starting said freshman, Hayden Moore, against the Canes, who helped Cincinnati shatter six school records last week against Memphis.Well, the bottom fell out on that 2015 team, and the rest was history, as we all know. Ugh, that Cincinnati game. 2) But I write that as a setup to wonder if the struggles we’re seeing in pass defense is a sign of bad things to come. Is it fair to consider again the “W in wrangle” mantra in a win like this and look at it in a positive light? Yeah….I still think it is. It’s of course hard to win in conference on the road, and generally it’s even harder to win in the NIL/transfer portal era. The parity is amazing. The talent level has never been more evenly distributed. Notre Dame was pushed in Chapel Hill as well. And this Miami team’s base talent level is worlds better than what we saw 11 years ago, obviously. It’s reach-the-na