Jeff Brohm’s Louisville Cardinals finally earned their first-ever road win against a top-five program with a 24-21 victory over Mario Cristobal’s No. 2-ranked Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium. The Cardinals broke Miami’s 10-game home winning streak – and get this, Louisville was the last team to beat Miami at home back in 2023. Talk about déjà vu. Mario Cristobal looked demotivated and exposed the culprit in the post-game interview.

On October 17, the Hurricanes tasted their first L of the season, and everybody’s blaming and pointing fingers at Mario Cristobal for his subpar execution and time management. After the game, Mario Cristobal hopped onto a podium. He started with accountability and put himself and the Hurricanes coaching staff under the bus for the loss: “Obviously really disappointed outcome at the end of the day credit to them, certainly they played. We didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t execute well enough, and certainly came up short. Just not good enough.”

“It wasn’t good enough, all of us. But sitting around being pissed is not going to do anything. We have to go back to work and get better.” Mario Cristobal completely messed up the clock and play-calling at the end of the game, and Miami fans were furious – even before Louisville sealed the 24-21 upset with an interception.

Miami had the ball at Louisville’s 31-yard line with just over 30 seconds left. All they needed was a field goal to tie the game – they were already close enough to try one. The smart move would’ve been to run the ball, maybe get a few more yards, and set up an easier kick. But instead, Cristobal called a passing play, even though quarterback Carson Beck had already turned the ball over three times that night. Sure enough, Beck’s pass got tipped, and Louisville’s TJ Capers snagged the interception, ending the game. It was a classic case of poor time management and shoddy decision-making by Cristobal – something Miami fans have seen too many times.

That wasn’t the only bluff. Mario Cristobal doubled on a second culprit. Miami’s run-game: “We did not run the ball well… we also got ourselves off schedule several times…all in all, not good enough.” Miami’s run game decided to go on a vacation mid-game. They just couldn’t get anything going on the ground. The Hurricanes only managed to scrape together 63 rushing yards on 24 attempts, a measly 2.6 yards per carry.

That’s not great at all, especially when you’re trying to win a big game. Louisville’s defense, a brick wall all season, shut down Miami’s running backs and forced them to rely heavily on the passing game. This put a lot of pressure on quarterback Carson Beck, who threw four interceptions. Truthfully, the Hurricanes never had a real chance throughout the game.

Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes hit a brick wall at Hard Rock Stadium

Louisville got off to a hot start, putting up 14 points right out of the gate. Carson Beck struggled big time, with Beck throwing four interceptions–yikes! That alone killed the game, if we are being honest about it. Although the former Bulldogs QB completed 25 of his 35 passes for 271 yards, it didn’t matter with all those interceptions.

Throwing a fourth interception on the potential winning drive? That will put him out of the Heisman race, like forever. Despite the turnovers, the Hurricanes managed to hang around but never held the lead.

Louisville’s defense, which was ranked No. 1 in the ACC going into this game, looked tight and resilient. They never gave the Hurricanes offense the benefit of the doubt and kept Miami’s high-powered attack mostly in check. The team held them to just one touchdown through three quarters and well below their usual scoring average. Even the offense was having a field day.

USC rejected Miller Moss, who was playing like we expected Carson Beck to play. The senior quarterback threw for over 248 yards and two touchdowns, and wideout Chris Bell recorded his third or fourth 100-yard receiving game and caught two touchdowns today. Louisville now sits pretty at 5-1, while Miami also drops to 5-1. To summarize, Miami is following their 2024 campaign, aka bottling their playoff chances, by losing favorable games.