Canes Set to Kick Off Second Half of Season at Louisville

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Two weeks ago, there was an epic comeback in California.

The Hurricanes, down by 25 midway through the third quarter against new ACC foe Cal, rallied to ultimately earn a 39-38 win over the Bears that kept Miami unbeaten and made the Hurricanes’ 3,000-mile, five-hour flight back to the East Coast a whole lot easier.

There was much to celebrate as the Hurricanes left California Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Cam Ward put together another impressive performance, one in which he thew for 437 yards and two touchdowns to earn ACC Quarterback of the Week honors.

Wide receiver Xavier Restrepo totaled seven catches for 163 yards and in the process, continued his climb up the Hurricanes’ all-time receiving list.

Miami’s defense tightened, holding Cal to just three points over the course of the game’s final 22 minutes to give the offense time to chip away at the lead.

And as a whole, Miami notched the second-biggest comeback win in program history.

But once the sixth-ranked Hurricanes (6-0, 2-0 ACC) returned to Coral Gables and began assessing their performance against Cal during their off week, the celebration turned to determination.

With six crucial conference games looming – starting with Saturday’s nationally televised matchup at Louisville – Miami’s players and coaches understood full well that while the Hurricanes got the win over the Bears, there was still plenty of room to grow, to get better and to continue becoming the team they believe they can be.

“First and foremost, you take a real humble approach to the bye week, and you look in the mirror and say, ‘Man, that’s not good enough.’ … technique and fundamentals stand out. Eye discipline. There were plays where we allowed explosive plays, particularly the last game … and then plays that we ran really well, were really effective. On offense, kind of the same thing,” said Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal. “We were off from a technical, communication standpoint, a fundamental standpoint. … and we either gave the ball up or ended up punting. …

“We always go right back to coaching because you have to do that. You have to take it upon yourself. You have to take ownership as a coach and you’ve got to make it a point not to cover material, but to teach. That’s a very big difference. … Teaching means you’re sharing in the learning process. We feel we did a much better job of getting to the nuts and bolts of what needs to get better. … There is no free pass. We all are expected to perform.”

But it wasn’t just Miami’s coaching staff that looked inward during the off week.

Restrepo shared during a television interview that the veterans on the Hurricanes’ leadership council called a player-only meeting to discuss where the team stood at the midpoint of the season and how it could get better after having to play from behind in their two conference games against Virginia Tech and Cal.

While it’s common for such meetings to happen when teams are struggling, Restrepo shared it was important for Miami to do that even at 6-0 because the Hurricanes know they can play better than they showed against the Hokies and Bears.

“We just basically went over what’s important to this team and set boundaries and let people know that we haven’t played our best ball yet,” said Restrepo, who enters the second half of the season as Miami’s leading receiver with 32 catches for 585 yards and five touchdowns. “We haven’t put our best team on film yet. So, again, [it was] just emphasizing, internally, getting better. I think that was the biggest emphasis in this meeting.”

Added linebacker Francisco Mauigoa, who has a team-high 32 tackles on the season, “Everybody’s just hungry. Everybody buys into the culture, and I think leaders on this team are stepping up to really lead everybody towards the right mindset [of] getting better every single day. We know for ourselves that we haven’t played our best football yet, so just being able to get everybody on the same page and get everybody on the same mindset so we can play fast. … It’s never easy to come back from a bye week, so for ourselves, we need to get back to our groove [and] to play Miami Hurricanes football.”

The Hurricanes will have their first chance to show they’ve gotten better on Saturday when they travel to Louisville to face a Cardinals (4-2, 2-1) team that bounced back after a pair of losses against Notre Dame and SMU to beat Virginia last week.

Louisville, led by quarterback Tyler Shough – who has already surpassed his career-best totals for passing yards (1,674) and touchdowns (14) – ranks 22nd nationally in total offense (461.8 yards per game) and 13th nationally in yards per play (7.2).

The Cardinals are known for explosive plays, totaling 14 plays of more than 40 yards and eight of more than 50, with freshman running back Isaac Brown rushing for 508 yards so far this year.

But Miami has certainly shown its ability to put up big offensive numbers, too.

The Hurricanes enter Saturday’s game as the nation’s top offense, averaging 583.8 yards per game, and lead the nation in third down conversion percentage (.603).

And Ward, the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, is a big reason why.

The quarterback has completed 69 percent of his passes, thrown for 2,219 yards and 20 touchdowns and has rushed for another 161 yards and three touchdowns.

He leads the nation in touchdown passes and yards per game (369.8) and is the first quarterback in program history to open his Miami career with six straight 300-yard performances.

But like many of his teammates, even Ward say there’s more to do, both individually and as a team.

And he’d like to see Miami start to play even better when it takes the field at Louisville in front of yet another, sold-out raucous road crowd.

“I’d probably say, ‘mid,’” Ward responded this week when asked to assess his play during the first half of the season. “I missed a lot of plays. I missed a lot of plays that I wish I could have back and that’s something I’m starting to realize, that every play that I get the opportunity, I have to take advantage of it. So, we just [have to] stop leaving plays out there as a whole team. I think the sooner we can do that – hopefully we do that Saturday – I just think both sides of the ball will be able to end up playing our best brand of football this year.”