As hype continues, Cam Ward’s focus is on ‘What’s next.’ For the Hurricanes, that’s Duke
The Miami Hurricanes went into halftime last weekend up by just 10 points against a floundering Florida State team. The Hurricanes did not play up to their standard in the first half despite having a lead through 30 minutes. Quarterback Cam Ward made sure the team knew it. “We’re not playing like that,” Ward said in an impassioned locker room speech. “We’ve got to pick ourselves up and whoop their ass, bro. We’re at home. We’ve got to beat their [expletive] ass. We restore order in this [expletive] state. We run this. Let’s go.”
The Hurricanes responded and won 36-14 to stay undefeated and keep their path toward spots in both the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game and 12-team College Football Playoff alive. “Just trying to get us to play our best brand of football,” Ward said this week about the speech. “We’ve yet to do that do that this year. That was really my message with the guys. We came out, making plays on both sides of the ball. I feel like I just helped push give a little more energy into the game, and we came up with a win.” So much talk about Ward has been on his otherworldly stats and his breakout year in his lone season with the Hurricanes that has him in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
But it’s moments like that halftime speech against Florida State that show where Ward’s focus truly lies. “My goal is not to be a Heisman Trophy winner,” Ward said. “My goal is to win football games and play for a national championship.” The opportunity to chase that goal continues on Saturday when the No. 5 Hurricanes (8-0, 4-0 ACC) host the Duke Blue Devils (6-2, 2-2 ACC) at Hard Rock Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised on ABC.