Well, it wasn’t perfect by any means, but winning sure is a lot more fun than losing.

The Miami Hurricanes topped visiting North Carolina State 31-30 at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night to grab their first ACC victory of the season. While there were still errors made throughout the game, the Hurricanes appeared to tackle better and were more consistent in their offensive performance.

Keep reading to see who the three stars of the game were for the Hurricanes.

Third star: Kamren Kinchens

Kinchens made the biggest defensive play of the game for the Hurricanes and helped to preserve the victory late in the fourth quarter.

With just under three minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Kinchens made an outstanding open field tackle of NC State wide receiver Thayer Thomas to keep him short of the first down marker on fourth down and give the ball back to the Hurricanes on a turnover on downs.

After the tackle, Miami’s offense got the one first down it needed to get to close the door on the Wolfpack and the Hurricanes earned their first ACC victory since last December.

Well done, Kamren Kinchens. That was a game-saving tackle.

Second star(s): Jaylan Knighton/Charleston Rambo

This is cheating picking two players for one position here, BUT, we won, so I don’t care.

Knighton and Rambo were the skill position players that made the Hurricane offense go on Saturday night.

Knighton finished with 83 yards rushing—the most allowed by NC State’s stout run defense to any individual all season—and 83 yards receiving while Rambo had nine catches for 127 yards. Between the two of them, they combined for three of Miami’s four receiving touchdowns.

Knighton caught a 53-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tyler Van Dyke on fourth down in the second quarter.

Rambo’s two touchdown catches were from 25 and four yards out, respectively. The four yard touchdown catch gave Miami the lead for good in the fourth quarter.

Knighton and Rambo have been Miami’s top skill players by a mile in ACC play. This will need to continue against ACC Coastal-leading Pittsburgh next Saturday at Heinz Field.

First star: Tyler Van Dyke

If you missed it earlier this week, Tyler Van Dyke ruffled some feathers inside the North Carolina State program with his comments about the Wolfpack defense.

After making the statement that he did, Van Dyke had to have a big game on Saturday night. And he turned in his best performance as a Hurricane.

Van Dyke was 25-for-33 for 325 yards and four touchdowns in the victory. He also added 16 yards rushing. He paced Miami’s offense in both halves and allowed the Hurricanes to get out an early double digit lead, something that has not happened in a power five game since Miami drilled Duke in December of last year.

It’s obvious that Van Dyke is extremely confident in himself and his teammates. And we finally saw that confidence translate into an ACC victory for the Hurricanes on Saturday night.

Van Dyke turning the corner and playing extremely well against the best defense in the ACC is just what the doctor ordered for the Hurricanes.