Entering as the No. 2 team in the country, the Miami Hurricanes will most likely not end the weekend with the same ranking after their 24-21 loss to Louisville. The Hurricanes are now 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the ACC.
While the Cardinals are one of the better teams in the conference, this was a game Miami mostly beat itself. The Hurricanes committed nine penalties for 67 yards and were sloppy nearly from the start. But nothing was worse than their four turnovers, all coming from quarterback Carson Beck.
It was a career-worst night for the redshirt senior, who had been trying to rebuild his résumé into that of a potential first-round draft pick. Beck finished 25 of 35 for 271 yards with no touchdowns, and while his four interceptions didn’t result in points for Louisville, they were costly — especially the final one.
Down inside Louisville’s 33-yard line, needing just a field goal to tie the game and possibly send it to overtime, Beck was intercepted by T.J. Capers with 32 seconds remaining. The throw looked predetermined — something the Georgia transfer seemed guilty of for much of the evening.
To no surprise, a chorus of boos rained down from the Hard Rock Stadium crowd. Social media wasn’t any kinder, lighting up with criticism toward Beck’s performance.
“There’s times where maybe I was a little too aggressive,” Beck said. “But I have to protect the ball better. That can’t happen. It’s unacceptable.”
Bad Scheduling for Miami Hurricanes
Coming into the Louisville game, Miami had not left the state of Florida all season and was coming off its second bye week in three weeks. Odd scheduling, to say the least. But the timing of the Friday night, October 17 game against the Cardinals might have been the bigger problem.
In 2024, the Hurricanes pulled off a miraculous, although controversial, comeback win over Virginia Tech on a Friday night that ended on a Hokies touchdown — or not, depending on perspective — that was reviewed and ruled in Miami’s favor.
Even so, after the crushing loss to Louisville, Miami might want to have a word with the ACC about avoiding Thursday or Friday night games altogether.
“Why does Miami schedule Friday Night games….” former Hurricanes receiver Reggie Wayne posted.
Since 2017, top-10 ACC teams playing regular-season Thursday or Friday night games are 2-5, per ESPN’s David Hale. That includes last year’s No. 7 Miami win over Virginia Tech, as well as the No. 2 Hurricanes’ 2017 loss to unranked Pitt.
For whatever reason, these games always seem to get weird — often becoming breeding grounds for upsets. Miami got lucky in 2024 thanks to Cam Ward and some questionable officiating. This year, it was Carson Beck’s meltdown.
Is Miami Out of the ACC Title Race, College Football Playoff?
There’s still a long season ahead for the Hurricanes. Despite an ugly loss to an ACC opponent, Miami remains very much alive in the race to Charlotte — and possibly the College Football Playoff — with six games remaining.
There are still four ACC teams with no conference losses (Georgia Tech, Virginia, Duke and SMU). That number will shrink soon when the Yellow Jackets face the Blue Devils in Week 8. That said, Miami’s 1-1 record makes the road to capturing its first ACC title in program history much harder.
Still, Miami might not even need to win the ACC to make the CFP. While nothing is certain in this unpredictable sport, leaving out a one-loss Miami team at year’s end would seem ludicrous — especially given the talent level and schedule strength Mario Cristobal’s team has played so far.
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