No. 18 Hurricanes shake off slow start to rout Syracuse, keep playoff hopes alive
The Miami Hurricanes needed something — anything — to get their offense going on Saturday. UM was sluggish for its first four drives against the Syracuse Orange, with all four drives ending in punts and none crossing midfield.
And then, on their final drive of the half, Miami marched down the field and set the tone for the rest of the game.
Five plays and 90 yards, capped by true freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney throwing a 14-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Carson Beck — yes, you read that right — gave No. 18 Miami the first points of the game and put the Hurricanes well on their way to an eventual 38-10 win over Syracuse at Hard Rock Stadium.
“We finally just cut it loose,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said.
With the win, Miami is 7-2 on the season (3-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play) and keeps its hopes for a College Football Playoff berth alive. Syracuse falls to 3-7 (1-6 ACC) and has lost six consecutive games.
Miami’s defense, which was once again dominant, followed that touchdown drive by the offense by forcing a pair of turnovers. Keionte Scott returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown with 1:50 left to play, and Jakobe Thomas recovered a fumble forced by Akheem Mesidor with seven seconds left in the half after Syracuse marched inside the 10-yard line to give UM a 14-0 lead going into the break.
The Hurricanes then scored on all three of their third-quarter drives — via a 61-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Keelan Marion, a 19-yard rush by Girard Pringle Jr. and a 36-yard Carter Davis field goal — to push Miami’s lead to 31-3.
UM then capped its scoring with 2:53 left to play on a backward pass from Beck to right tackle Francis Mauigoa, who ran it in for a 3-yard touchdown.
Syracuse broke up the Hurricanes shutout a 38-yard Trip Woody field goal on its opening drive of the second half. It capped scoring with 21 seconds left on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Joseph Filardi to tight end Elijah Washington-Baker.
The Hurricanes defense held the Orange to 285 yards and recorded a season-high seven sacks, a season-high 11 tackles for loss and season-high-tying three turnovers — Thomas also intercepted a pass in the third quarter in addition to the two turnovers Miami forced at the end of the first half. The seven sacks are the most by the Hurricanes in a game since having nine against Florida State on Nov. 2, 2019.
“We were able to communicate and put pressure on the quarterback,” said Mesidor, who had three-and-a-half tackles for loss and one-and-a-half sacks. “We were just able to dominate on all three levels.”
But before that momentum-swinging final two-plus minutes of the first half, it was a struggle for Miami.
The Hurricanes’ first four drives totaled 67 yards of offense, with Miami averaging just 2.8 yards per play.
“Just sustain drives,” Cristobal said in a halftime interview on ESPN.
UM started doing just that with its final drive of the half.
It began with a 25-yard strike from Beck to Marion. Two plays later, Beck found true freshman Daylyn Upshaw for a 41-yard gain to get Miami to the Syracuse 26-yard line. It was the first of three consecutive plays to end the drive featuring true freshmen. Beck then found Joshua Moore for a 12-yard gain before Toney’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Beck.
It was all UM afterward.
“It was kind of up and away from there,” Beck said.
Beck completed 18 of 24 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown pass to Marion in the third quarter pushed him over 10,000 passing yards for his career, making him just the second active quarterback to hit that mark along with Fresno State’s E.J. Warner.
The Hurricanes played the game without four notable starters in running back Mark Fletcher Jr., wide receiver CJ Daniels, cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. and defensive tackle Ahmad Moten Sr.
Jordan Lyle started at running back, but the trio of Lyle, CharMar “Marty” Brown and Pringle split carries.
Joshisa “JoJo” Trader started in Daniels’ spot at receiver along with Toney and Marion.
Damari Brown, Xavier Lucas and Ethan O’Connor continued to rotate at outside cornerback.
And Justin Scott started at defensive tackle opposite David Blay for a second consecutive week.
Miami wraps up its regular-season home schedule next week against N.C. State, with kickoff on Nov. 15 set for 3:30 p.m. Syracuse is off next week before traveling to face Notre Dame on Nov. 22.
This story was originally published November 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM.
.JPG)