No. 2 Miami Crumbles In the Final Seconds, Dropping First Game of the Season to Louisville
In this story:
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It didn't start pretty for No. 2 Miami.
Down 14-0 quickly in the first quarter, with everything going wrong. Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm was running circles around the Hurricanes' coaching staff, and it didn't end there.
The Hurricanes found themseleves in a hole early and they never found a way to climb out.
The Miami Hurricanes get upset by the Louisville Cardinals 24-21 in a Friday Night Lights showcase of the ACC. At least for Louisville, it was a showcase of elite coaching and play-calling from Brohm. For UM, they looked unprepared, undisciplined, and lacked any sense of the game throughout 60 minutes.
"Obviously disappointing evening and outcome," Cristobal said postgame. "At the end of the day, credit to them. We didn't coach well enough, we didn't execute well enough, and certainly came up short. Not good enough. Disappointing in a lot of different aspects. Certainly hurt ourselves with some penalties. Really, our guys played with great effort and gave ourselves a chance to tie or win the game, but did not overcome the issues that we caused ourselves, and, again, really good play by the opponent as well."
Read More: Everything Mario Cristobal said After First Loss of the Season
What also didn't help the coaching cause was the four interceptions from Carson Beck. He did not have a pretty game and knocked his Heisman hopes out of the window one pick at a time.
Beck forced several passes all game, and while some worked, those that didn't killed them. In the end, he still had a chance to try and get back in the game.
Down three after a miraculous Hurricanes' turnover and defensive effort gifted the Beck a short-yard advantage for them, they scored, thanks to the heroics of star freshman Malachi Toney running it in on an end around, and throwing for the two-point conversion to CJ Dainels.
It's true, Malachi Toney can do it all 🤯👏 pic.twitter.com/iJ1eb6LQ7t
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) October 18, 2025
With less than three minutes to go in the game, the Canes got another stop on defense. All eyes turned towards the $ 4.1 million man. As the Hurricanes drove down the field, for the fourth time tonight, a bad read and miscommunications gifted a turnover to the Cardinals.
"I mean, we have a perfect play for it," Beck said post-game on his fourth interception. "We just had miscommunication with the route and what we were doing. We ran the route wrong. I went to throw it, 'cause we're hot and off pressure, and then again, he made a good play."
Now, it is do or die for the Hurricanes. There is so much to be said, but Cristobal knows that talk is cheap.
Sitting around and being pissed isn't going to do anything about it," Cristobal said. "If you're upset about a performance, you better get up and do something about it. It's complete commitment from everybody. There's no BS'ing, there's no excuse-making, there's no time to sit around and do anything but go back to work and go get better. That's what real men do. That's what we have to do and that's what we're going to do."
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
Follow all social media platforms to stay up to date with everything Miami Hurricanes-related: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and BlueSky.
Read More Miami Hurricanes News:
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.