The “It” factor isn’t something that can be measured by a stopwatch, a statistic or an advanced metric.

It’s what we old-timers used to call an “intangible.”

And only the elite few have it.

It’s more than just the ability to throw the ball far, run fast or make those around you better. It’s the knack for knowing when your team needs you to carry it by making just the right play at just the right time.

Mario Cristobal saw that quality in Cam Ward right away and knew he had to do whatever it took to get the transfer quarterback to come play for him.

“I use the word Alpha, because I like that word,” the Miami coach said during the ACC’s preseason media event in Charlotte this summer. “His level of drive, determination, leadership, detail, accountability … there’s no flinch in him. We’re beyond blessed to have him with us.”

They should be.

The Hurricanes have never been wanting for talent. It’s why they’ve been picked to finish at or near the top of the league virtually every year since joining the ACC in 2004. And why it’s such a disappointment when they predictably fall short of those high expectations.

A big reason for their failure has been the absence of a difference-maker to pull the trigger on offense.

Miami hasn’t had a quarterback taken in the 1st 4 rounds of the NFL Draft since Craig Erickson went to Tampa Bay in the 4th round in 1992. And only one, Brad Kaaya in the 6th in 2017, has been drafted in any round during the school’s ACC tenure.

It’s taken 2 decades and 6 head coaches, but in Ward, the Hurricanes finally appear to have found the missing piece to the puzzle that will end their never-ending quest to regain the championship swagger that was once their trademark.

The Washington State transfer leads the nation with 14 touchdown passes and is 2nd only to Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart with 1,439 yards through 4 games. His completion percentage of .724 is the best in the ACC and is a big reason the Hurricanes are averaging an ACC-best 52.3 points per game.

Those impressive numbers have jumped him to the head of the class as the early Heisman Trophy frontrunner. But they’re not even close to being his most important contribution to his 7th-ranked team.

That would be the confidence, the attitude – the chutzpah – to come to the line of scrimmage and tell the defense where the next play will be run. Just as he did Saturday at South Florida. And then run it there for a touchdown.

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Was it disrespectful? Sure it was.

Was it necessary? Of course not.

But it sent a clear signal, both to his teammates and the opposition, that Ward and the Hurricanes know exactly where they’re going. Good luck stopping them.

“He plays quarterback like a linebacker. He’s aggressive,” Cristobal said of his quarterback. “He’s been hyped up and pumped up because it’s real. But he doesn’t care about that. He wants to go play ball and win.”

Cristobal has described the relationship between Ward and Miami as “the perfect marriage.” The reality is that it’s more a marriage of convenience.

For all the talk about fit and culture and opportunity, the bottom line in Ward’s decision to pull his name out of the NFL Draft and come to Coral Gables for his final season of college eligibility was, in fact, the bottom line.

It’s an opportunity he worked hard to earn by climbing from the absolute bottom of the college football food chain as a no-star recruit at FCS Incarnate Word, to a legitimate star at Washington State to the plum of this year’s transfer portal crop with more than 15,000 passing yards to his credit.

Ward’s status as the top-rated free agent quarterback gave him the luxury of selling himself to the highest name, image and likeness bidder. And the bidding was intense. Especially since it came down to a competition between Miami and in-state ACC rival Florida State.

Ward went to the Hurricanes and has them on the fast track to an ACC championship and the College Football Playoff. The Seminoles settled on Oregon State transfer DJ Uiagalelei and are headed nowhere fast after a 1-3 start.

Exact figures of Ward’s NIL deals aren’t available, but he’s been worth every penny regardless of how much he’s getting.

Money, however, isn’t Ward’s primary motivation. Neither is the Heisman.

While he admits that it would be nice to be on the podium in New York to receive the college football’s most prestigious honor, the only trophies he’s focused on raising are the ones that will be handed out after the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on Dec. 7 and the Playoff final in in Atlanta a month after that.

“That would mean a lot to me because of how bad I want to win,” Ward said. “I haven’t won anything tremendous at the power conference level. That’s something I want to do, win a championship.”

It’s the same goal Miami has been chasing for the past 20 years.

One they’re in a position to accomplish together now that Ward has found a talent-rich program in which he can flourish and the Hurricanes have finally found the difference-maker they’ve lacked for as long as they’ve been in the ACC.