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

Here are some key storylines, numbers note, and quotes from Miami’s 31-24 loss to Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium.

With the loss, the Hurricanes fell to 8-1 on the season and fell four spots to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 rankings which were released Sunday.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, improved to 8-1 and moved up one spot to No. 3 in the AP Top 25.

The Recap

Over the years, old rivals Miami and Notre Dame have played in their share of classic, high-stakes thrillers.

Saturday’s game at Notre Dame Stadium was no different.

Despite falling behind by 21 early in the third quarter, Miami rallied in the second half and put itself in position to potentially tie the game or take a lead when it drove down the field in the game’s final four minutes.

With 3:43 left and Miami facing a fourth-and-six from the Notre Dame 18, Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah threw the ball to Elija Lofton in the corner of the end zone.

While the Hurricanes believed Lofton caught the ball and got his feet down for a potential touchdown, officials ruled Lofton didn’t make the catch and the Irish took over on downs and were, in essence, able to run the clock down leaving the Hurricanes with just 57 seconds to try for one last score.

Miami’s last-second desperation play didn’t result in a touchdown, and the Hurricanes were ultimately left South Bend with their first loss of the season.

Mensah finished the day completing 24 of 43 passes and throwing for 276 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

Lofton, meanwhile, had seven catches for a game-high 113 yards and a touchdown and receiver Cooper Barkate stepped up in the absence of fellow pass catcher Malachi Toney, who missed the game with an injury, to finish with 10 catches for 92 yards with two touchdown grabs.

“Really proud of our players for fighting back the way they did because we really started poorly,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said. “We couldn’t convert on third down. We had just a tough time offensively and our defense had a tough time getting their cleats on the ground. But one play at a time, we gained our momentum back and found ourselves with the ball, with possession a couple of times, to either tie the game … or maybe try to go for two there at the end.”

Numbers to Know

12 – Tackles for Hurricanes linebacker Mohamed Toure, who led the Miami defense on Saturday against the Irish. Toure now has a team-high 56 tackles on the season.

28 – Touchdown passes on the season for Miami quarterback Darian Mensah after his three scoring passes against Notre Dame. Mensah is second nationally among all FBS signal callers in touchdown passes behind only Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, who has 29 touchdowns on the year.

41 – Yards on one of Elija Lofton’s fourth-quarter catches for the Hurricanes. That was the longest play from scrimmage for either the Hurricanes or Irish in Saturday’s game.

Quotable

“You know how much Mali [Toney] means to us. He means the world and he does so much for us and then it’s compiled when you lose him on a Wednesday because you don’t really have time to do everything you want to do. You don’t want to wing it, but it’s not the same as having a full week of practice without somebody. So, with that being said, I thought everybody stepped up. Everybody did and everybody fought their tails off. That locker room is in a lot of pain, and we also acknowledge that again, as an organization, we’ve got to coach better, we’ve got to play better. You put yourself in a hole like that against a team like that, it’s going to be tough sledding. You have to be near perfect, and the margins become that much more thin.”

– Head coach Mario Cristobal, on Miami having to adjust to playing without leading receiver Malachi Toney and the early struggles against Notre Dame

“[Offensive line coach Alex] Mirabal always says, ‘Now what? Let’s get to work.’ ‘Now what? We won. Now what? We lost. Let’s go get better regardless.’ We’ve got to continue to get better. Even if we’d won this game, we’ve still got to get better with those pressures. We’ve just got to continue to get better. That’s literally it.”

– Offensive lineman Ryan Rodriguez, on Miami’s effort to regroup after losing its first game of the season

“This is supposed to hurt. We shouldn’t make excuses for a loss like this, but Duke is a great team, and we’ve got to play them next week regardless [of] if we’d won or lost this game. I don’t know if you saw their game today, but they’re a hell of a team. So, probably let this hurt for another day or so, Monday, it’s all forward on Duke.”

– Wide receiver Cooper Barkate, on the Hurricanes needing to move forward and refocus with ACC play picking up next week against Duke

Up Next

With their non-conference slate now finally complete, the Hurricanes will now face three straight ACC opponents in Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

The Blue Devils are set to visit Hard Rock Stadium next Saturday for a noon kickoff and have won three straight, including a 41-3 victory over NC State on Saturday.

In that win, Nate Sheppard rushed for 219 yards and two touchdowns, and Duke outscored NC State 24-0 in the second quarter to distance itself.

Miami and Duke have met 21 times, and the Hurricanes own a 16-5 lead in the all-time series. The two last met in 2024, with Miami posting a 53-31 win.