Coming off a bye, the Miami football team faced a huge ACC game at home on Friday night against Louisville. At 5-0, the Hurricanes were the second-ranked team in the country after rolling to wins in their first five games.
This was a game that quarterback Carson Beck and head coach Mario Cristobal needed to win to prove that Miami was for real. Their schedule is set up so well that they don’t leave the state of Florida to play a game until November 1 against SMU.
When the dust settled, Beck threw four interceptions as the Cardinals went to South Florida and came away with a 24-21 victory. Beck threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter, including on their final drive when they were in field goal range to tie the game at least and force overtime.
Carson Beck Throws Wide Receivers Under the Bus After Louisville Loss
After the game, Beck took accountability for his four interceptions at first, but when asked by a reporter about the last one, specifically why he didn’t expect a defender in the area, his explanation changed.
“I mean, we have a perfect play for it,” said Beck. “We just had a miscommunication with that route and what we were doing. So he just ran the route wrong, and I went to throw because we were hot off a pressure and he made a good play on it, but it definitely didn’t help that we ran the wrong play.”
The fact that Miami was still in the game at that point was surprising. Beck had thrown three interceptions, including one in plus territory earlier in the quarter. The Hurricanes’ defense forced a fumble on Louisville’s next play to score a touchdown to close the deficit to three.
With 38 seconds left, Miami was in field goal range, so why did Cristobal decide it was a good time to throw the ball?
“Well, there was 30 seconds left and we had a couple of timeouts,” said Cristobal. “We’re at 48 yards for the field goal. We’re still trying to make it closer or try to win the game as well, which is regular process from us.”
Miami Needs Help to Get to ACC Championship Game
Compared to losses later in the season like Cristobal suffered last year, this loss happens at the midway point. Getting to Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game now is not in Miami’s control. They are going to need to win out and hope for some help. Neither is a guarantee.
“The message is being very real and honest,” said Cristobal. “That’s a really poor job of execution and discipline. That means all of us–everybody in the organization. Every coach, every player. We take it. We win together, we lose together. When we say execution, it falls on the players, it falls on the coaches, it falls on myself, and after having some really good performances and having some really good practices, that’s really disappointing.”
Yes, it is disappointing, but four interceptions thrown by Beck and just 62 yards rushing for the Hurricanes are not going to win many, if any, games. It didn’t help that they fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, but Beck’s inability to avoid big mistakes was Miami’s undoing.
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