Miami Hurricanes football has its 2026-27 schedule, and it is looking to set the Canes up for another potential run deep into the postseason.
Miami opens its season with a light schedule, and given the many changes on both sides of the ball this offseason, it gives Miami time to find a groove.
Miami’s opening week matchup is on the road at Stanford on Sept. 4. While the 4-8 Cardinal is a light opener on paper, this game being on the road as well as being on a Friday is a less-than-ideal combination.
That Friday factor is a common trend that the Hurricanes will see across the entire year with four games not being played on a Saturday. Two of these are at home including the home opener against Florida A&M on Thursday Sept. 10 and their Nov. 20 matchup with the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Miami leads the ACC with four such games along with Florida State and SMU. The bright spot for Miami is that this string of games comes within the first month, with that late-season game against the Hokies being a part of a three-game homestand to end the year.
That is a change that is much welcomed for Miami fans who have had to watch UM on the road to end each of the last three seasons. Now, Miami will have three home games to end the season, and senior night will coincide with the final regular season game for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
As for the difficulty of the schedule, Miami is set up for another strong year with their opening schedule, giving the team time to mesh with their vast changes, especially on the offensive line.
Miami’s first four weeks in 2026 are Stanford, Florida A&M, Wake Forest, and Central Michigan, opponents who finished with a combined 16-16 in conference play in the ACC, SWAC, and MAC in 2025.
This allows the Canes to gain some momentum going into their road matchup in Death Valley against the Clemson Tigers. Following Clemson is a bye week that gives Miami a chance to relax before heading into a rivalry matchup Oct. 17 against Florida State.
Miami’s toughest matchup of the season is Nov. 7, on the road against Notre Dame. Now in South Bend, the Hurricanes have a chance to prove once again why they were chosen over the Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff.
In a season with no currently ranked opponents other than Notre Dame, this could be a must-win for Miami. Placed right around the time the CFP committee starts releasing its rankings, Miami’s performance could shake up its placement in those standings.
With that, it will be more important than ever for Miami to avoid the yearly slip-ups that have ruined Miami’s chances of winning the ACC and putting their playoff hopes on life support.
The Canes have never gone undefeated in the ACC and have one season of losing one conference game, in 2017. In the last two seasons, where the Canes were vying for playoff status, Miami lost two ACC games.
Now there’s some potential for things to change. For instance, Clemson could make a jump back under Dabo Swinney, Duke won ACC despite going 8-5, former Penn State coach James Franklin is doing some promising things attempting to rebuild Virginia Tech and Florida State is a rivalry game that the Canes can’t take lightly.
While those could change and present some challenges, Miami will be the favorites to take home the ACC conference title for the first time in program history.
Can they avoid the slip-ups, and will this schedule continue to look as easy as it does currently?
There are seven months to see how Miami and the rest of this schedule shapes up before kickoff Friday, Sept. 4 in Stanford, Calif.
