The Miami Hurricanes entered their home game against Louisville as double-digit favorites. The game appeared to be the next step on UM’s path to ACC coronation.
The Cardinals had other ideas, jumping out to an early lead and holding on for a 24-21 win over No. 2 Miami.
UM’s first loss of the season featured a myriad of problems, from a stagnant offense to defensive miscues and penalties. Here are five key takeaways from the defeat:
Offense’s all-around struggles
Very little went right for the Hurricanes on offense Friday night. Seven of the Hurricanes’ 11 complete drives ended with a turnover, turnover on downs or a punt.
Miami’s vaunted offensive line could not pave the way for its running backs, as Mark Fletcher Jr., Jordan Lyle and Marty Brown combined for 42 yards on 16 carries — a meager 2.6 yards per attempt.
“Certainly, we need to do a better job at the line of scrimmage and get downhill, give our guys a chance to make plays and move the sticks,” coach Mario Cristobal said.
The lack of a run game forced the Hurricanes to lean on veteran quarterback Carson Beck and the passing game. Beck had performed well through the season’s first five games, but he had a nightmare evening this time. Beck threw a career-worst four interceptions, with the last one ending Miami’s attempt at a last-minute comeback.
“We were down 14 in the first quarter, and again, we had some of the shots,” Beck said. “The first one, the kid made an unbelievable play. The second one, ball just didn’t come out good. He had him beat. And then (the) third one, it’s fourth down, and he’s open. I just missed the throw. And then the last one, it happened.”
Related Articles
Dave Hyde: Hurricanes stumble from start to end of ‘unacceptable’ loss to Louisville
Beck throws four interceptions, No. 2 Hurricanes stunned by Louisville for first loss
Game time: TV info, odds, keys to Gators’ homecoming vs. Mississippi State
Game time: Fast facts, odds, keys to Florida State at Stanford
Gators’ DJ Lagway eyes second-half surge as Napier’s end nears
Brohm outschemes the defense
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm has a great reputation for his offensive mind. He showed why on Friday night.
The Cardinals had an obvious mismatch to deal with: Miami has one of the best defensive lines in the nation, and Louisville’s offensive line struggled to block. Brohm came up with the perfect game plan, calling plays where quarterback Miller Moss dumped the ball out quickly.
Louisville wide receiver Chris Bell punished the Hurricanes twice with catches over the middle on short passes that he turned into touchdowns. That quick game bedeviled UM all night, keeping the pass-rushing duo of Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor away from Moss and allowing the Cardinals to get enough offense to keep Miami at bay.
Hats off to their coaches,” safety Zechariah Poyser said. “They had a great plan. You can tell they schemed up during the bye week, for sure. They came out with stuff we didn’t see the whole season. So there was a lot of exotic stuff (we), that we had to adjust to so that we (were not) prepared for.”
Tackling issues
As the Cardinals mounted long drives, the Hurricanes struggled to bring the opposition to the ground. Pro Football Focus gave UM a 27.7 tackling grade for the contest — their lowest mark since UM’s loss to Michigan State in 2021.
The Hurricanes missed 27 tackles, their highest total since that Michigan State game four years ago.
Miami has been a solid tackling team this year, and Louisville has athletic skill players like Bell and Isaac Brown that can give any team issues. But Corey Hetherman’s unit needs to improve next week.
Malachi Toney can do it all
Toney has been one of the most ballyhooed freshmen in the nation this year, and he kept showing why on Friday.
The American Heritage alumnus racked up a career-high 135 receiving yards and scored on a 12-yard run. He nearly had another touchdown on Beck’s first interception of the night — if the ball had been placed slightly better, he had his three defenders beat and could have scored.
Toney, who played quarterback briefly in high school, helped keep UM in the game with short pass on a two-point conversion.
Ultimately, though, it was not enough.
“I feel like it’s not really about me,” Toney said. “We’ve got to play team football, so that’s what we’ve got to do from here on out.”
Fans, don’t panic yet
About 12 months ago, Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois. Later in the 2024 season, Ohio State lost to unranked Michigan.
At the end of January, those teams were facing off in the national title game.
It’s not the BCS era anymore. One loss does not doom teams anymore. The Hurricanes’ season is far from over. If Miami bounces back and runs the table to end the year, it will make the College Football Playoff for the first time. Its path to the ACC title game is less clear, as some combination of Georgia Tech, Virginia and Louisville would have to lose to allow the Hurricanes back into the mix.
The cup-half-full, optimistic outlook is that even when the Hurricanes played their worst game of the season so far, they were still one score away from beating one of the better teams on their schedule. The cup-half-empty, pessimistic outlook would be that there were a lot of problems that cost them a chance at their first undefeated regular season since 2002, and those problems could rear their ugly heads again in the back half of the season.
We will see how things play out over the next month and a half. But UM could still have an excellent season.
“We’re all pissed. We’re all upset and sitting around and being pissed is not going to do anything about it,” Cristobal said. “And just because you’re upset about a performance, you better go out and do something about it. And that’s got to be the complete commitment of everybody.
“There’s no B.S.ing, there’s no excuse-making. There’s no time to sit around and do anything but go back to work and go get better. That’s what it takes. That’s what real men do. And that’s what we have to do. That’s what we’re going to do.”
