After Miami’s prime-time win over No. 6 Notre Dame, ESPN analyst Booger McFarland pushed back on the surge of "The U is back" takes. "I’m not gonna say 'The U' is back… They’ve been trying to come back since 1987," McFarland said on the Sept. 2 episode of Pardon My Take. "I’ll just say I liked what I saw from them last Sunday."
McFarland’s caution landed amid a measurable uptick in Miami’s public stock. Two days after the win, the AP Top 25 vaulted the Hurricanes to No. 5, their highest in-season mark in years.