Miami’s Darian Mensah delivers huge night — but one mind-boggling stat stands out through first three games

Darian Mensah has played three games as Miami’s starting quarterback — he still hasn’t reached double-digit incompletions.

Mensah continued his absurd start to the 2026 season Friday night in Winstom Salem, N.C., completing 30 of 34 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns as No. 5 Miami defeated Wake Forest, 33-20, to improve to 3-0.

Through three games, Mensah has now completed 71 of 79 passes.

Not to mention, he also has 11 touchdowns against zero interceptions, making him a Heisman contender in this early portion of the college football season.

The Duke transfer (via Tulane) was nearly perfect against Wake Forest, completing all 20 of his passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the first half as Miami built a 24-7 advantage, and the Hurricanes’ defense came up big late.

“I think a ton of credit goes to the defense for just bowing up and executing at a high level,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said.

He then connected on his first four attempts after halftime before finally throwing an incompletion on his 25th attempt of the game.

His 24 consecutive completions to begin the night set an ACC record, while his streak reached 35 straight completions dating back to the Hurricanes’ 77-7 win over Florida A&M, when he completed his final 11 passes of the contest.

The 35 tally fell just one shy of the FBS record of 36 consecutive completions set by East Carolina’s Dominique Davis in 2011.

Despite his impressive night, Mensah also gave credit to the defense.

“I have a lot of faith in our defense, they give us some trouble in practice,” Mensah said. “So for them to go out there, it’s no surprise. Them dudes over there are all ballers.”

Mensah opened his Miami career by completing 27 of 30 passes for 401 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-6 whooping of Stanford.

Last week, he went 14-for-15 for 252 yards and three touchdowns as Miami embarrassed Florida A&M.

Nevertheless, his teammate Malachi Toney is having just as good a start to the 2026 season.

Toney destroyed the Demon Deacons on Friday, finishing with 12 receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The sophomore opened the season with a school-record 234 receiving yards and three touchdowns against Stanford and followed it with another explosive performance against Florida A&M, highlighted by a 52-yard touchdown reception, finishing with four catches for 96 yards.

The No. 5-ranked Hurricanes will host Central Michigan next week in pursuit of a perfect 4-0 start before resuming ACC play.

— with AP