FINAL: No. 6 Miami Hurricanes 52, Louisville Cardinals 45
The Miami Hurricanes — once again — had to hold their breath and wait to see if a late call would fall in their favor.
Cam Ward was hit as he threw in the fourth quarter Saturday with Miami holding a one-score lead over the Louisville Cardinals. The ball wobbled out of his hand, a Louisville defender charged for it and ran the length of the field for what was initially ruled a game-tying fumble return for a touchdown.
After the review was completed, the Hurricanes were able to exhale. Forward pass. Incomplete pass. Miami maintains possession and the lead.
The sixth-ranked Hurricanes scored two plays later on a Damien Martinez 30-yard rushing touchdown to pull away for a 52-45 win over Louisville on Saturday at L&N Financial Credit Union Stadium to keep their perfect record intact.
Miami improves to 7-0 and 3-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Louisville falls to 4-3 and 2-2 in league action.
But once again, it was another wild and close conference game for the Hurricanes.
Miami up ... again...
A 59-yard catch-and-run from Cam Ward to Sam Brown helped set up a 2-yard Ajay Allen touchdown run.
Miami is back up, 45-38. There’s 11:17 left to play.
Tie game ... again...
Louisville moved the chains on fourth down twice — once on a fake punt and then on a Hurricanes penalty — to keep a 75-yard drive alive that ended with a 4-yard pass from Tyler Shough to Duke Watson.
It’s 38-38 with 13:22 left in the game
Cam Ward does Cam Ward things again
Somehow, Cam Ward hit Xavier Restrepo for a 63-yard catch and run while being hit on the throw. That got Miami to the Louisville 2-yard line. Ward threw to Horton in the end zone on the next play.
Miami is up 38-31 with 3:19 left in the third quarter.
Aaaaaaaaaand we’re tied.
Tyler Shough to Ja’Corey Brooks. 21-yard touchdown.
It’s 31-31 with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
Buckle up, folks.
Hurricanes turn the ball over
Mark Fletcher fumbles after a catch on Miami’s first play from scrimmage after the Louisville kickoff return.
Cardinals recover and now have a short field with a chance to tie the game.
Louisville responds with kickoff return TD
The Cardinals didn’t even need to get back on offense to respond to Miami’s touchdown.
Caullin Lacy returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to get Louisville back within a touchdown, 31-24, with 8:06 left in the third quarter.
Hurricanes use methodical drive to build lead
Cam Ward to Xavier Restrepo: Inevitable
A 9-yard touchdown pass caped a 14-play, 75-yard drive that took up the first 6:39 of the third quarter.
It’s 31-17 Miami over Louisville with 8:21 left in the third.
A halftime lead
For the first time in ACC play, the Hurricanes have a lead at halftime.
UM is up 24-17 on Louisville after holding the Cardinals to a field goal on their final drive of the half.
Louisville nearly had a touchdown on a long Duke Watson run but Daryl Porter stopped him at the 5 yard line with three seconds left on the clock.
The Hurricanes get the ball back to start the second half.
Another stop for the defense
Simeon Barrow Jr. came up big on a second consecutive drive, this time with a third-down sack that forced Louisville to attempts a 52-yard field goal — that they missed.
Miami has 1:38 left to work with in the first half and is up 10. UM also gets the ball back to start the second half. Chance for some big momentum here.
Touchdown for the Canes defense
With Louisville starting at its 3-yard line, Hurricanes defensive tackle Simeon Barrow forced Louisville running back Isaac Brown to fumble. Linebacker Raul “Popo” Aguierre recovers in the end zone for the touchdown.
It’s 24-14 Miami over Louisville with 5:01 left in the second quarter.
Big play and potential momentum-swinger for the Hurricanes.
Cardinals finally get to Cam Ward
After he escaped from a slew of sack attempts early, Cam Ward was finally taken down twice on consecutive plays midway through the second quarter.
It ultimately forced Miami to punt, the first time Saturday a UM offensive drive did not end in points.
Louisville responds ... again
The Cardinals are keeping up with the Hurricanes. They ripped off a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by a Tyler Shough 3-yard touchdown pass to Mark Redmon to get back within 17-14 of Miami with 10:32 left in the second quarter.
And Miami builds its lead
Cam Ward hit a wide-open Sam Brown over the middle of the field for a 49-yard touchdown to put Miami up 17-7 on Louisville in the opening minute of the second quarter.
Ward is 7 for 10 with 119 yards and two touchdowns so far.
Hurricanes back on top
Miami retook the lead, 10-7, with 5:05 left in the first quarter on a 27-yard pass from Cam Ward to Jacolby George in the back of the end zone.
But it was the run game — specifically, it was Mark Fletcher — that got Miami in that position.
Fletcher took three consecutive handoffs to begin the drive. He picked up 40 yards in the process.
Louisville quickly responds
The Cardinals needed just three plays after Miami’s field goal to take the lead.
Isaac Brown, a Homestead native, ripped off a 43-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, to give the Cardinals a 7-3 lead with 7:15 left in the first quarter.
Hurricanes open scoring
After the defense forced a three-and-out to begin the game, Miami opened scoring with a 55-yard field goal from Andres Borregales to put the Hurricanes up 3-0 with 8:34 left in the first quarter.
But it could have been so much more.
Cam Ward had hit Xavier Restrepo for a 28-yard catch-and-run touchdown but the play was wiped off because of offensive pass interference.
That sent Miami to a third-and-21 that ultimately became a third-and-26 from the Louisville 48 after a Jalen Rivers false start. Ward scrambled for 11 yards to get them back in field goal range before Borregales’ kick capped the 12-yard drive.
Ward twice managed to evade pressure from Louisville, first breaking past a pair of potential sacks midway through the drive to flick the ball to Mark Fletcher for a 2-yard gain and then doing so again on the final third down before the Hurricanes kicked the field goal.
Two key players back
The No. 6 Miami Hurricanes are expected to receive a significant boost in the trenches on Saturday against Louisville at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.
Starting left tackle Jalen Rivers is back after missing the past five games with an undisclosed injury. Meanwhile, defensive end Elijah Alston is also slated to return after missing the Cal game. Both went through pregame warmups.
With that, the Hurricanes are essentially at full strength on both lines of scrimmage — the only key contributor from either side still out is Ryan Rodriguez, who rotated at left guard with Matt McCoy in the season-opener against Florida.
Read the full story (with more pregame notes) here.
Season recap
▪ Miami 41, Florida 17: Cam Ward threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns, Mark Fletcher added two scores on the ground, the defense held its own despite one of its top players exiting the game early with injury, and the No. 19 Hurricanes made quick work of the Florida Gators with a season-opening win at Gainesville’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to kick off a critical Year 3 under Mario Cristobal.
▪ Miami 56, Florida A&M 9: That one went as expected. Cam Ward threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth before turning the game over to the second-string offense midway through the third quarter. The defense held the Rattlers to just three field goals.
▪ Miami 62, Ball State 0: The No. 10 Miami Hurricanes had to wait through nearly two-and-a-half hours of lightning delays before kicking off their home game against Ball State on Saturday.
Once the game finally began, they wasted little time asserting their dominance, as was expected in this non-conference matchup.
The final score from a soggy Hard Rock Stadium: Hurricanes 62, Ball State 0.
It’s the most points Miami has scored in a shutout of a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in program history.
▪ Miami 50, USF Bulls 15: The Miami Hurricanes and USF Bulls played a hectic, lengthy, back-and-forth first half on Saturday.
But once the teams returned from their locker rooms, the Hurricanes took over and played like the team that has dominated through the first three weeks of the season.
Fueled by three total rushing touchdowns by Damien Martinez, including two in the second half, and another stellar performance from quarterback Cam Ward, No. 8 Miami pulled away from USF and left Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium with a 50-15 road win.
▪ Miami 38, Virginia Tech 34: The No. 7 Hurricanes overcame a pair of 10-point second-half deficits to hold off Virginia Tech at Hard Rock Stadium to improve to 5-0 and 1-0 in ACC play.
Cam Ward led touchdown drives of 89, 70 and 57 yards in the second half, and Miami survived a final-play Hail Mary attempt from Virgnia Tech that was ultimately ruled incomplete after a lengthy review.
▪ Miami 39, Cal 38: The No. 8 Hurricanes erased a 25-point second-half deficit for a 39-38 win over the Cal Golden Bears on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 52,428 at California Memorial Stadium on the day ESPN’s College GameDay came to Berkeley for the first-time in the show’s history.
Miami trailed Cal 35-10 with 8:06 left in the third quarter before it ripped off four consecutive touchdown drives while holding the Golden Bears to just a field goal to secure the win.
The game-winning play: A 5-yard touchdown pass from Cam Ward to Elijah Arroyo on a drive that included a 77-yard catch-and-run from Xavier Restrepo to get Miami into the red zone and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that forced them back 15 yards with less than a minute left to play and a 22-yard catch-and-run from Damien Martinez on third and 20 to get Miami back to the Cal 3.
Miami linebacker Francisco Mauigoa intercepted a Fernando Mendoza fourth-down pass with 11 seconds left to seal the game.
▪ Miami at Louisville (Today)
▪ Miami vs. Florida State (Oct. 26, 7 p.m.)
▪ Miami vs. Duke (Nov. 2, time TBD)
▪ Miami at Georgia Tech (Nov. 9, time TBD)
▪ Miami vs. Wake Forest (Nov. 23, time TBD)
▪ Miami at Syracuse (Nov. 30, time TBD)
Pregame Hurricanes reading
Need to catch up before kickoff? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.
▪ ‘The most fun I’ve had coaching’: Mario Cristobal reveling in Hurricanes’ early success
▪ Cam Ward is a Heisman contender. He’s also critical of his performance so far
▪ Why the undefeated Miami Hurricanes held a players-only meeting during their bye week
▪ Undefeated but far from perfect, Hurricanes ‘pushing forward’ with second half of season
▪ Cam Ward’s play — and touchdown celebration — have Hurricanes QB in national spotlight
This story was originally published October 19, 2024 at 11:30 AM.
.JPG)