Hurricanes avert disaster vs Cal — but not before key miscues put Miami in early hole

Two critical fourth-down plays in the second quarter and an ill-advised decision could have been disastrous on Saturday for the Miami Hurricanes.

Those plays contributed to UM’s third-quarter, 25-point deficit from which the Canes nearly didn’t recover.

Nearly didn’t.

Despite Cal’s offensive flurry and ability to capitalize on Miami’s early mistakes, the Golden Bears couldn’t stop the Hurricanes from a 39-38 victory that buoyed the Canes to a perfect 6-0 record (2-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play) at a sold-out California Memorial Stadium.

The Hurricanes scored touchdowns on each of their final four drives, capped by a 5-yard touchdown from Cam Ward to Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left, and held Cal to just a field goal over the final 23:06 to rally back for the win.

Because of Miami’s stunning comeback, the Hurricanes are still in the hunt for a perfect season.

But those early miscues made the win a lot tougher than needed.

The two fourth-down plays in the second quarter — one on offense and one on defense — were followed by eventual Cal touchdowns. Meanwhile, Ward’s first pass of the third quarter, a doomed decision in which he threw across his body to the opposite side of the field, was intercepted by Cal’s Nohl Williams and returned for a 40-yard touchdown to put the Golden Bears up 28-10.

After Cal quarterback and Miami Columbus High grad Fernando Mendoza had tied the score at 7 with a 57-yard, first-down touchdown pass to Jack Endries, the first fourth-down scenario came on the first play of the second quarter. Miami was driving at fourth-and-2 from the Cal 45 when Ward completed a pass to tight end Elijah Arroyo, who was tackled 1 yard shy of the sticks.

“It was a long 1-[yard], about 1 ½,’’ UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “I just felt like, ‘Eh, we’ve run the ball well [and] I’ve been leaning on these guys.’ Arroyo is a dangerous guy to cover … and when we slipped him out there, they’re in cover zero. That guy took a great angle and before we could get turned around and up the field he cut our legs underneath us.”

Cal (3-2, 0-2 ACC) took over at its own 44 and Mendoza immediately completed a 51-yard bomb to Trond Grizzell. Two plays later, running back Jaydn Ott barreled 5 yards for a touchdown to give Cal a 14-7 lead.

The second fourth-down UM nightmare came with Cal on offense – at its own 34-yard line. Cal coach Justin Wilcox surprisingly opted to go for the first down on fourth and inches, but UM called a timeout to ice the quarterback on an expected sneak. The Golden Bears came back from the timeout and Mendoza instead threw a short pass in the flat, which a wide-open Ott took 66 yards for the touchdown that made it 21-10 with eight minutes left in the first half.

“They were trying to sneak it and we wanted to use a timeout to try and get the ball in their territory if we could stop it,’’ Cristobal said. “They run a sneak, or they run the slice play, which they ran, and we lost the eyes for it.”

After the pick-six, with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter, Mendoza threw yet another bomb, this time 56 yards to Jaivian Thomas. Two plays later, Chandler Rogers ran for a 9-yard touchdown for a 35-10 Cal lead.

Those four long passes by Mendoza covered 230 yards.

“He’s a great football player as a quarterback that can sit in the pocket and throw the ball,’’ said UM linebacker Francisco Mauigoa, “and they got us on those deep passes — how he rolls out of the pocket and delivers a good pass. He caught us on the things we could have done better.’’

Cristobal also made sure to praise Mendoza, whose father played at Columbus with Cristobal: “To Mendoza, who, obviously there are a lot of ties there…Just a gutty, talented young man that played his heart out.”

Added Cristobal: “But it’s all about the Canes.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2024 at 7:00 AM.