Mauigoa’s touchdown run, Beck’s touchdown catch revive Miami’s offense vs. Syracuse

Francis Mauigoa had been waiting for this moment for nearly three years, ever since he started with the Miami Hurricanes.

When it finally happened on Saturday, it worked out to perfection.

Well, almost.

Mauigoa, the Hurricanes’ star right tackle and a potential first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, capped Miami’s scoring in the No. 18 Hurricanes’ 38-10 win over Syracuse when he ran for a 3-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter after receiving a backwards pass from quarterback Carson Beck.

But Mauigoa, who said it was his first touchdown since his little league days in American Samoa when “I wasn’t big at the time — kind of skinny,” had a relatively subdued celebration after the play.

Why?

“I wanted to run over somebody,” Mauigoa said postgame, a response that garnered some laughs in the press conference.

Mauigoa’s touchdown was the final big play of an offensive renaissance for the Hurricanes (7-2, 3-2 ACC).

After stalling out on the first four drives of the game, Miami’s offense found life the rest of the way against a hapless Syracuse defense that entered the game giving up the second-most yards per game among power conference schools (435.2 yards per game).

There was trickery. There were explosive plays. There was momentum.

Everything Miami needed.

“Eventually,” quarterback Carson Beck said, “we were going to blow the top off.”

Beck’s touchdown catch

Beck orchestrated it all, starting with the final drive of the first half.

A five-play, 90-yard drive started out with two massive passes — a 25-yard throw to Keelan Marion and then a 41-yard catch-and-run with true freshman Daylyn Upshaw that got Miami to the Syracuse 26.

Two plays later, with Miami at the 14-yard line, coach Shannon Dawson called a reverse that wound up being a double pass, with true freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney — who played quarterback growing up and led Plantation American Heritage to a state title last season playing the position in the postseason — lofted a pass to Beck for the score.

It was Beck’s first career receiving touchdown and the second consecutive season a UM quarterback has a receiving touchdown after Cam Ward had one against Florida State last year.

“My eyes got all wide,” Beck said. “I’m calling the play, whatever, we’re lining up the ball, and I’m literally just repeating it to myself in my head, like, ‘Catch the ball, catch the ball, catch the ball, catch the ball.’ And when he threw it back to me, it was a little low. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this going to get here?’ I stepped back to it and then obviously, I’ve got the Great Wall of China in front of me to block everybody. So, man, that was super fun. Super fun. Great, great moment that I’ll remember forever.”

It was also a moment that sparked the Hurricanes the rest of the way. The defense forced two turnovers — a Keionte Scott pick-six and a Jakobe Thomas fumble recovery — to close out the first half and give Miami a 14-0 lead. UM then scored on each of its third quarter drives —via a 61-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Marion, a 19-yard rush by Girard Pringle Jr. and a 36-yard Carter Davis field goal — to extend Miami’s lead to 31-3.

“We played more freely,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “I think we just cut it loose and stopped worrying about the outcome and started focusing more on the process and then got a chance to make it a really, really big lead.”

Mauigoa’s touchdown run

And then came Mauigoa.

Cristobal had promised the offensive lineman he would get a chance to score a touchdown at some point during his Miami career. Mauigoa said they had run a play nearly 50 times in practice but never in an actual game.

So when UM, up 31-3 at that point, got inside the 5-yard line late in the fourth quarter, Mauigoa and right guard Anez Cooper were hollering for the play.

“We had another formation and I was like ‘What are we doing? Just give me the ball,’” Mauigoa said. “Finally somebody called the timeout, we got out there and me and Coop are yelling at coach ‘Let’s run it! Let’s run it! Come on!’”

So, they ran it.

Beck, standing in the shotgun, took the snap and rolled to his left. Then, he spun around and threw a backwards pass to Mauigoa. A couple blocks from his fellow linemen left him an open lane to score. He’s the first by a Hurricanes offensive lineman since Sunny Odogwu on Oct. 31, 2015.

“I’m at the line and I’m like ‘Just give him a catchable ball. Just give him a catchable ball. Make sure he catches it,’” Beck said. “I probably loved it a little bit too much, but, man, I was so happy for him.”

Beck wasn’t the only one.

“If you don’t like a big lineman touchdown,” edge rusher Akheem Mesidor said, “I don’t know if you like football.”

The Hurricanes certainly liked the football they played Saturday night. It gives them needed momentum as they navigate through their final month trying to keep their playoff hopes alive.

“We played a really clean game in all facets of the game,” Beck said. “Really proud of the guys and how we were able to fight, continue to battle and then ultimately exploded towards the end.”

This story was originally published November 8, 2025 at 9:19 PM.