MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Carson Beck’s last throw — his fourth interception of the night — came on a hot route after Louisville brought the blitz. The play should’ve worked, Beck said, but there was “a miscommunication” and his receiver ran the wrong route. Instead, the pass found Louisville’s T.J. Capers with 32 seconds to play, and Miami’s undefeated season came to an end.
That was the story of Miami’s night — one mistake on top of another, until it was finally too much for the No. 2 team in the country to overcome.
“That’s a really poor job of execution and discipline,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said after the Canes fell 24-21 to the unranked Cardinals. “That’s all of us — every player and every coach. After having some really good performances and working really hard in practice, that’s really disappointing. We’re all disappointed. We’re all pissed.”
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Louisville schemed a nearly flawless game to torment the Hurricanes.
The Cardinals scored on each of their first two drives, showing Miami’s defense looks it hadn’t seen all season, safety Zechariah Poyser said.
“They had a great plan,” Poyser said. “They came up with stuff we hadn’t seen and we had to adjust to. We weren’t prepared for it.”
The early 14-0 deficit combined with a Louisville defensive game plan aimed at stuffing the run and forcing Beck to make quick throws frustrated the Miami offense, too.
Beck’s first pick came on a deep shot over the middle in which Antonio Watts made a nifty catch for the interception. Beck went deep again on the next drive, and was again picked off. He threw his third interception on a fourth-down heave in the fourth quarter that appeared to be a dagger for the Canes, but Keionte Scott’s forced fumble on the Cardinals’ ensuing drive set up a touchdown that gave Miami life.
Trailing by three with all three timeouts left, Miami drove to the Louisville 31, but coming off a timeout, Beck dodged pressure and tossed toward the sideline, where tight end Elija Lofton was out of position and the ball was intercepted, sealing the Louisville win.
It has become a familiar theme for Miami, which lost for the 10th time as a favorite under Cristobal.
Despite the ugly performance, however, Beck insisted this loss wasn’t going to define Miami.
“It’s a good thing we play 12 games and not just one,” Beck said. “That’s the biggest thing we have to realize is there’s more opportunities. We’ve been very successful this season and, shoot, we laid an egg tonight. I have to prepare better, I have to play better, and I’m going to do that, and come back with fire.”
Cristobal lamented a bevy of missed opportunities, from costly penalties to the four turnovers, but insisted his team is built to withstand the loss.
“You better go out and do something about it,” Cristobal said. “That’s got to be the complete commitment of everybody. There’s no B.S. and 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 it takes. That’s what real men do, and that’s what we have to do.”
