Canes Rewind: A Look Back at the Win over Syracuse

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

Here are some key storylines, numbers of note, and quotes from No. 18 Miami’s 38-10 win over Syracuse on Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.

After the win, Miami improved to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in ACC play. The Hurricanes also rose two spots to No. 16 in the AP Top 25. Syracuse, meanwhile, lost its sixth straight and fell to 3-7 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

The Recap

For Miami, the mindset all week was simple.

“Control what we can control,” the Hurricanes repeated over and over.

After suffering its second loss of the season, dropping in the polls and not cracking the top 12 of the initial College Football Playoff rankings after last week’s disappointing showing at SMU, all Miami could do was look forward and try and get back on track.

That meant finding ways to play cleaner football, cutting back on the penalties and turnovers, tuning out the noise and focusing on beating Syracuse.

And while it took a little bit for the Hurricanes to get going when they took the field at Hard Rock Stadium to face the Orange on Saturday, that’s eventually what they did.

With a little less than three minutes left in the first half, Miami finally broke through and scored its first touchdown of the day with a little trickery when receiver Malachi Toney tossed a 14-yard scoring pass to quarterback Carson Beck that capped a 5-play, 90-yard scoring drive.

On Syracuse’s ensuing possession, Keionte Scott picked off quarterback Rickie Collins and returned the interception 38 yards for a touchdown that doubled Miami’s lead in a matter of seconds.

The Orange managed a field goal on their first possession of the second half to cut Miami’s lead to 14-3, but the Hurricanes showed their quick-strike ability on their next drive when Beck connected with Keelan Marion on a 61-yard touchdown play.

Beck finished the day completing 18 of 24 passes for 247 yards.

The Hurricanes added another touchdown later in the third quarter on a 19-yard run by freshman Girard Pringle, Jr. that pushed the lead to 28-3.

A 36-yard field goal from Carter Davis followed, and then Miami used a bit more trickery.

This time, offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa snagged a pass from Beck behind the line of scrimmage and made it to the end zone on a 3-yard scoring play.

It’s a play the Mauigoa later said the Hurricanes have been practicing not for days or weeks, but years.

“It was a good touchdown, but I was a little mad about it because I wanted to run over somebody,” Mauigoa quipped after the win.

The Orange would add a score in the game’s final seconds, but for Miami, it was the bounce-back performance the Hurricanes needed, especially given the number of Hurricanes starters – including running back Mark Fletcher Jr., receiver CJ Daniels, defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. and cornerback OJ Frederique – who missed the game while nursing various injuries.

“I think we showed, in spurts, what a really good football team we are. I think we also showed what you see in college football, that games at some points in time, during the course of all four quarters, there’s some back and forth with some stagnant moments and that’s why you keep playing. That’s why the game is four quarters,” head coach Mario Cristobal said. “And then we showed that some of our young players are playing well. Girard Pringle showed some really explosive plays. Daylyn Upshaw, Josh Moore. … You saw [Herbert] Scroggins [III] in there. You saw Booker Pickett in there. Gosh, there was a whole bunch. We were down at one point I think six, seven starters, so a lot of guys got burn and we’ve got a chance to keep improving and we have an opportunity to play another great football team coming in here next Saturday.”

Numbers to Know

10,106 – Career passing yards for Beck. The sixth-year redshirt senior surpassed the 10,000-yard mark in Saturday’s win, a milestone he later said was a surprise to him. On the season, Beck has completed 72.7 percent of his passes and thrown for 2,194 yards.

116 – Receiving yards for Keelan Marion, who saw more playing time after the injury to fellow receiver CJ Daniels. Marion had three catches, including a long of 61 yards.

5 – Penalties totaled by Miami against Syracuse. This came after the Hurricanes were penalized 12 times in their loss at SMU and after coaches and players acknowledged Miami would have to play much cleaner football moving forward.

7 – Sacks totaled by the Hurricanes defense. That’s a new season high for Miami. The Hurricanes also had 11 tackles for loss.

3 – Turnovers forced by the Miami defense. The Hurricanes turned those three takeaways into 10 points.

Quotable

“I enjoyed both of them. I thought that was so fun. We got down to the, what was it, 4-yard line probably and [Anez Cooper] started yelling at the sidelines that we needed to run the play, the touchdown with Sisi [Mauigoa] and shoot, we went back out there, we called it and everybody’s like, ‘Sisi’s about to score.’ I look and they’re in perfect coverage, perfect defense for us to actually let it hit. And I’m at the line, I’m just like, ‘Give him a catchable football, just give him a catchable ball. Make sure he catches it.’ So, I probably lofted it a little bit too much, but man, I’m so happy for him. I made sure I ran and grabbed the ball so that no one else took it, so that he could get it on the sideline. I ended up giving it to him on the sideline.”

– Quarterback Carson Beck, on whether he enjoyed his touchdown reception or offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa’s touchdown more

“It’s a play that we’ve been practicing for more than two, three years now. Finally, we got the opportunity to run it. Before the play, we had another formation in. I was like, ‘What are we doing? Just give me the ball.’ Finally, somebody called a timeout. We got out there, me and [Cooper] yelling at coach, ‘Coach, let’s run it. Come on.’ So, it’s fun.”

– Mauigoa, on his touchdown run

“We always talk about winning the middle eight [minutes], so basically, the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. So, getting those two turnovers, especially one for a touchdown, it gave us a huge momentum on defense because we were the first ones on the field [to start the second half], but it also gave the offense huge momentum.”

– Defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor, on Miami’s defense forcing two turnovers late in the first half, including a pick-6

“I just feel like [it’s] that dog mentality that all the freshmen have. We all came in and worked from day one. We buy into what the older guys teach us. We learn from them and that’s our game.”

– Running back Girard Pringle Jr., on why he and so many of Miami’s freshmen have been able to make impact plays this season

“I also think that’s a resilient bunch that knows and recognizes what we are. We’re a really, really good football team that has shot itself in the foot a couple of times. But we’ve all seen enough games this year to know that when Miami’s on, Miami really distinguishes itself as one of the better teams. So, we’ve got to do it on a more consistent basis. We just need to keep our eyes looking forward, our mouths shut, go to work and just go get better.”

– Head coach Mario Cristobal, on how Miami was able to keep its composure after the slow start

Up Next

Miami’s stretch of crucial, must-win ACC games continues next Saturday when the Hurricanes host NC State at Hard Rock Stadium.

It will be the Hurricanes’ home finale before Miami closes out the regular season with back-to-back road games at Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.

The Wolfpack were idle this past weekend, but enter Saturday’s game with a 5-4 record, including a 1-3 mark in road games.

But NC State sure made an impact on the ACC standings and national rankings in its last outing, when it upset then-No. 8 Georgia Tech, 48-36.

In that game, Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey completed 24 of 32 passes and threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Jayden Scott rushed for 196 yards on 24 carries.

Miami and NC State have met 18 times, and the Hurricanes hold an 11-6-1 lead in the all-time series. NC State, however, won the last matchup, 20-6, in 2023.