Miami needed to watch just one half of Emory Williams to know there wasn’t a chance he was taking the field next year while the program has College Football Playoff aspirations. So, the Hurricanes put together an NIL package that competed with an NFL salary to land Carson Beck.
And it looks like an immediate win for Mario Cristobal as he gets a proven and veteran quarterback. But how much of an upgrade is Beck for Miami? Cam Ward’s season was nearly flawless this past year. Beck has some Bigfoot-sized shoes to fill.
Because Miami didn’t go get Beck to finish anything short of a College Football Playoff appearance. The pressure Beck is under to succeed and essentially dominate next season will be unbearable. And that’s largely due to what Ward accomplished this year.
So how much better did Miami get? Let’s take a look at both their seasons and what Miami could look like with Beck under center.
Carson Beck vs. Cam Ward: What the Miami Hurricanes will look like offensively next season
What Cam Ward did this past season with Miami deserves a lot of credit. He turned them into a College Football Playoff contender. More importantly, he turned them into one of the best offenses in college football.
That will get masked by how inconsistent the defense was, resulting in close games and bad losses. Nonetheless, Ward set the standard extremely high for Beck. Ward threw for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns.
Ward threw for over 300 yards in every game except for two – not including the half bowl game he played. And he had multiple touchdown passes in every game except for the win over Florida State.
Miami was good because Ward could win them the game as a passer. He was one of the best overall passers in college football. That’s why he’s projected as one of the first quarterback’s taken in the upcoming draft.
For Beck, though, he’s shown he’s not nearly as elite of a passer. While Ward eclipsed 300 yards in nearly every game of his Miami career,, Beck only had four such games this season. He did have a couple games with 297 yards (one an "8OT" game).
He’s not a quarterback that can win games consistently as a passer. Quite frankly, Georgia’s defense did the brunt of the work a lot this season. Especially in games against Florida, Alabama and Texas where Beck threw three interceptions each.
Ward only had one game with multiple interceptions; Beck had four such games. This is a good move for Miami as they get a proven quarterback.
Miami's offense is going to look very different in 2025. Ward is talented enough as a quarterback to lead a team to victory. Beck is talented, but hasn’t shown he can be the type of player to change a game himself.
Miami’s offense will regress under Beck. Unless he improves his ball security and decision-making, Miami’s offense won’t be as potent as it was with Ward. What made Miami so dangerous was the threat of Ward torching teams every week.
Beck doesn’t have that same threat. And unless Miami gets some weapons around him, the offense won’t look anything like it did in 2024, despite an experienced quarterback.