The No. 6 Miami Hurricanes offense had a big day in a 52-38 win over Louisville on Saturday afternoon.
In a game in which neither defense provided much resistance, the UM attack edged out Louisville’s in a back-and-forth shootout of a game that featured plenty of twists and turns.
Miami totaled 538 yards and averaged 7.5 yards per play as quarterback Cam Ward threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns and the UM ground game finished things off in the fourth quarter, totaling 219 yards on the ground.
Sam Brown led the receiving efforts on an explosive day in which he totaled 125 yards and one touchdown on only four catches. Xavier Restrepo also had a strong day, with 101 yards on seven receptions. Running back Damien Martinez had his best game as a Hurricane, totaling 89 yards on 13 attempts, including a 30-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to essentially win the game.
Miami dominated the time of possession on the day, holding the ball for 34:33 of the game with UM holding the ball for 9:10 of the fourth quarter.
The Hurricanes defense was led by the effort of Simeon Barrow, who generated six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and forced one fumble. Daryl Porter led the team with nine tackles. Overall, UM’s defense totaled six tackles for loss and three sacks. Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough completed 31-of-51 passes for 342 yards and four touchdowns. Receiver Jacorey Brooks led the way with six receptions for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
Miami’s defense did a solid job on third down, limiting the Cardinals to a 3-of-12 conversion number on that critical down, but Louisville went for it on fourth down three times and converted all three of those attempts to extend drives–which led to touchdowns.
The UM defense started the game with forcing a three-and-out from the Louisville defense. The Miami attack responded with a field goal drive that ended with a 55-yard make by Andy Borregales to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead with 8:34 remaining in the first quarter. UM had a touchdown pass to Restrepo on the drive that was wiped off the board by an offensive pass interference call on a rub route that freed the receiver.
Louisville responded with a touchdown drive as Brown raced 43 yards to the end-zone as the running back ran through an arm tackle by Tyler Baron and safety Jaden Harris took a bad pursuit angle in the secondary to take a touchdown off the board. The Cardinals took a 7-3 lead with 7:15 remaining in the first quarter.
Miami got the run game going on its next series with Fletcher running for 40 yards on three carries. Ward capped the drive with a 27 yard touchdown pass to Jacolby George in which the quarterback extended the play by drifting to his left and threw a strike to the back of the end-zone for the score as UM took a 10-7 lead with 5:05 remaining in the first quarter.
The Hurricanes extended their lead early in the second quarter with a 49-yard pass from Ward to Sam Brown as the quarterback found the receiver uncovered in the middle of the field— thanks to a terrific double move—for an easy score to give UM a 17-7 lead with 14:32 remaining in the second quarter.
The Cardinals responded with a beautiful drive of their own, going 75 yards on nine plays to score on a three-yard touchdown pass from Shough to tight end Mark Redman on a play with plenty of misdirection. Louisville cut into Miami’s lead, 17-14, with 10:32 remaining in the second quarter.
With 5:01 remaining in the second quarter, the UM defense stepped up an made a play with defensive tackle Simeon Barrow forcing a fumble from Louisville running back Isaac Brown with the ball being recovered by back-up linebacker Popo Aguirre to give the Hurricanes a 24-14 lead.
Barrow and the UM defense came up big again on the next series with Louisville driving the ball down to the Hurricanes 26 yard line and the defensive tackle coming up with an eight yard sack to push back a 52 yard field goal attempt that was missed by UL kicker Brock Travelstead.
Louisville ended the first half with a 22-yard field goal by Travelstead with the Hurricanes leading 24-17.
Miami generated 230 total yards in the first half while averaging 7.2 yards per play. Ward completed 9-of-15 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns with Brown bringing the most production from the pass catchers, totaling 66 yards and one touchdown on two receptions. Fletcher led UM’s efforts on the ground with 68 yards on ten carries.
UM’s defense allowed Louisville to generate 267 yards with Shough completed 16-of-24 attempts for 168 yards and one touchdown. Chris Bell led Louisville with 77 receiving yards while Brown ran for 51 yards and one touchdown. Daryl Porter led UM with six tackles while Barrow totaled five tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack.
Miami’s offense came out of halftime with its most impressive long, sustained drive of the game to that point, putting together a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to take a 31-17 lead with 8:21 remaining in the game. On that drive, the Hurricanes converted four third-down opportunities, which were all at least 3rd-and-6 length. A key play on that drive was a 21-yard run by Damien Martinez in which he showed impressive leg strength to churn extra yards while converting a 3rd-and-6 opportunity.
After that impressive drive, the momentum shifted quickly on Miami in a bad way. Louisville responded immediately with a 100-yard kick return by Caullin Lacy for a touchdown to make the score 31-24 with 8:06 remaining in the third quarter. On UM’s first play of the next drive, Mark Fletcher fumbled the ball when fighting for extra yards after catching a pass, giving the Cardinals the ball at the UM 26 yard line. Louisville made the Hurricanes pay for that touchdown with a 21-yard touchdown strike from Shough to JaCorey Brooks to tie the score at 31-31 with 6:59 remaining in the third quarter.
Miami responded with a clutch touchdown drive on its next possession in which they converted a 4th-and-1 on their own 34 yard line on a one-yard run by Fletcher. On the next play, Ward found Restrepo deep down the field for a 63-yard gain and then Ward quickly found Isaiah Horton for a two-yard touchdown pass as the Hurricanes took a 38-31 lead with 3:19 remaining in the third quarter.
UM’s defense got a stop late in the third quarter, but Louisville converted a fake punt on 4th-and-7 on their own 28 yard line by snapping the ball to up-man Duane Martin, who ran for 14 yards. The Cardinals once again converted a 4th-and-long on that drive with Shough extending a play and D’Yoni Hill being called for a holding penalty in coverage to extend drive that finished with a four-yard touchdown pass to Duke Watson to tie the game 38-38 with 13:22 remaining in the game.
The Hurricanes struck next with a quick touchdown drive that included a 59-yard catch and run by Brown in which he broke a tackle to generate an explosive play. Back-up running back Ajay Allen scored from two yards out to cap a five-play, 80 yard drive with the Hurricanes taking a 45-38 lead with 11:17 remaining in the game.
Miami finished off the game with a touchdown drive that was scored with 4:05 remaining in the game with Damian Martinez running for a 30 yard touchdown to give the Hurricanes a two-score lead.
Miami finished off the game with a touchdown drive that was scored with 4:05 remaining in the game with Damian Martinez running for a 30 yard touchdown to give the Hurricanes a two-score lead. Louisville responded with a touchdown scored in the last minute of the game and the Cardinals could not recover the onside kick.
Miami will return to action next Saturday, hosting in-state rival Florida State. Kickoff for the game is schedule for 7 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on ESPN.
