Canes Rewind: A Look Back at the Win over Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Each week this season, we’ll take a look at the game that was for the Hurricanes.

Here are some key storylines, numbers of notes and quotes from sixth-ranked Miami’s 52-45 win over Louisville on Saturday afternoon.

The Recap

After Miami’s epic, 25-point comeback win over California earlier this month, the Hurricanes celebrated – and vowed they’d use their off week to continue getting better.

And with a talented Louisville awaiting them on the other side of their off week, the Hurricanes knew they’d better prepare and find a way to avoid falling behind early.

Turns out, the Cardinals were every bit the upset-minded foe the Hurricanes expected.

Louisville, led by quarterback Tyler Shough and freshman running back Isaac Brown, put together an impressive offensive showing against Miami, totaling 448 yards and seemingly answering every time the Hurricanes tried to grab momentum.

Fortunately for the Hurricanes, Miami’s offense is pretty potent as well.

Quarterback Cam Ward completed 21 of 32 passes for 319 yards with four touchdowns, while wide receivers Sam Brown Jr. and Xavier Restrepo finished with 125 and 101 receiving yards, respectively.

Miami’s rushing attack was effective against the Cardinals, too.

The Hurricanes totaled 219 rushing yards, led by Damien Martinez (12 carries, 89 yards) and Mark Fletcher Jr. (13 carries, 73 yards) and it was Martinez’s powerful 30-yard scoring run in the game’s final minutes that eventually proved the difference in a back-and-forth game that saw the Hurricanes and Cardinals trading touchdowns much of the afternoon.

“That was a hard-fought game, a lot of back and forth. Explosive plays by us, explosive plays by them,” said Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal. “We had some errors on special teams that certainly hurt us, but one thing that didn’t was our effort. We always played hard. There was resiliency. We made plays when it mattered. … A lot of good stuff.”

Numbers to Know

4 – Times Miami has scored at least 50 points in a win this season. The Hurricanes are averaging 48.3 points per game, which ranks second among FBS programs.

2.5 – Tackles for loss made by Hurricanes defensive lineman Simeon Barrow Jr. Barrow also had six tackles, a sack and forced a fumble that led to a Miami touchdown when Hurricanes linebacker Raul “Popo” Aguirre recovered the ball in the end zone.

63 – Yards on Xavier Restrepo’s third-quarter catch that set up a Miami touchdown and turned out to be the Hurricanes’ longest play of the day.

7 – Consecutive games in which Cam Ward has thrown for at least 300 yards. He is the first Hurricanes quarterback to accomplish that feat.

538 – Total yards gained by the Hurricanes in the win over Louisville. Miami is now averaging 577.3 yards per game, which leads the nation.

Quotable

“Besides the ability, his awareness, his understanding, his football IQ, his understanding of coverages … There’s certain rushes that come with certain games that are going to provide space and I think he understands how to set up that space even more by looking off a defender and creating more room. And he can run. I mean, he’s a guy that’s going to clocked at some high miles-per-hour, some really good high-speed running. So, a lot of confidence in him running or throwing the football.”

– Head coach Mario Cristobal, on quarterback Cam Ward’s ability to run the ball and extend drives

“Our running backs group is very, very deep and they’re very talented. Every time we’re doing a run, there’s somebody special behind you running the ball, so you’ve got to be able to block for them so they can do their thing and when they get out in the open, make plays. Just like Damien, you saw this game, crazy run; everybody’s trying to tackle him, and he would not go down on that touchdown. It’s a pleasure. It’s awesome every day during practice and every game to be blocking for them. They’re great dudes and great players.”

– Offensive lineman Jalen Rivers on Miami’s running backs

“I mean, we’ve got one of the best o-lines, one of the best receiving corps. We’ve got a great [offensive coordinator]. All I’ve got to do is put the ball in play. You saw today, I’m throwing to wide-open people, and [then] they make contested catches when they need to. So, at the end of the day, we just have to continue to do the little things. If we do the little things right, all the other plays that we have, the explosive plays, [will] take care of [themselves].”

– Quarterback Cam Ward, on Miami’s offense

“I feel like that has a lot to do with our team culture, that we’re willing to play to the last whistle and [make] no mistake, these teams are really good that we’re [facing] now. It’s conference play. Anything can happen. Again, we’re just trying to go in each and every single week, work super hard, and get a ‘W’ on Saturday.”

– Wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, on Miami’s resilience in close games this season

“Coach made a great call, and we just executed it at an elite level. Coach said, ‘We need to get this ball,’ and we executed and got the ball.”

– Defensive lineman Simeon Barrow, on his forced fumble, which teammate Raul Aguirre Jr. recovered in the end zone for a Miami touchdown

Up Next

It is officially Florida State week for the Miami Hurricanes.

After three hard-fought ACC games, the Hurricanes are now set to take on their instate rival, who will visit Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night.

The Seminoles have struggled to a 1-6 record and are coming off a 23-16 loss to Duke on Friday night.

But rivalry games tend to be unpredictable and more often than not, when these two meet, records and rankings have not mattered.

Florida State has won the teams’ last three matchups, including a 27-20 thriller last year in Tallahassee, but Miami still holds a 35-33 lead in the all-time series.