The Miami Hurricanes were 5-0 and flying high heading into a Friday night showdown with the Louisville Cardinals in 2025. Miami had knocked off Notre Dame, Florida, and Florida State before a four interception game from Carson Beck became a 24-21 upset victory for the Cards.
Malachi Toney was in star-mode by October and the young buck caught nine balls for 15.0 yards per catch, ran in a jet sweep and threw a 2-point conversion to pull within three.
On the ground Miami struggled with Mark Fletcher and the RB room scoring once but being held to 2.3, 3.0 (Jordan Lyle) and 3.0 (Marty Brown) yards per carry.
Above- I broke down the middle screen from Toney and how it works here vs. Louisville. Motion gets eyes off no10, while Mauigoa has to be as solid in space as he is. CJ Daniels holds his block without holding jersey and Brown sets a nice drive out as well. At the 3rd level Cooper destroys the safety and Toney hits on an explosive.
Above- To open the thread, the early slot fade to Toney. I love how he gets his eyes-hips-belt back to the football. Don’t go ‘over the shoulder’ unless you have to. When wearing a helmet and shoulder pads it has a tendency to bounce off and be a body catch which we don’t want.
Above- Miami failed running counter quite a bit so in the red zone they are running more of a zone look. The count is off and Bell and Lofton don’t pick their eyes up. Even CJ Daniels should be blocking inside not outside. With zero 2nd level blocks this is stopped short.
Above- This is a mixture of this is DPI and goes uncalled but also WHY on earth is Beck throwing into three DB’s here? And he under throws them as you’d expect him to (loss of arm strength after an elbow injury) re his ability but can’t have him do re the scheme.
Above- Miami didn’t rush for 3 yards per carry as a group vs. Louisville’s defense. The Cards really put this one on Beck and he failed the challenge. A “CAT” or corner blitz here blows up the counter. The pulling OL don’t see the CB coming and he slips in to make the stop.
Above- Ah the hard deck. If a DB is at 7y or deeper it’s typically a bad idea to challenge them with a deep shot into their area. The CB is right at 7y, if he was to immediately take steps up maybe you can throw this- but only outside and deep, not inside and short. Beck throws it inside and short as the CB has a lead on the WR using a shuffle technique which helps in recovery against a double move.
Above- The Cards did a great job of showing Beck one thing pre-snap and doing something else post-snap. The easy “college” reads weren’t there. This is why I prefer bubbles to be RPO tags vs. set throws. Read that flat guy and when he runs you handoff.
Above- Dawson going 3-man route with half the field cut off with the half-roll is very Dana of him. Beck doesn’t see anything come open and isn’t mobile enough to escape.
Above- It’s the Air Raid play mesh here for the ‘Canes. I’m not sure why Beck doesn’t throw to the open space at the bottom of our screen. Instead he looks intermediate-late-middle which is a huge NO NO for QB’s.
Above- I’ve been saying that the job Coach Mirabal has to do in ‘26 will be his truest test. These are homegrown talents he’s working with and many have shown huge flaws thus far. McCoy gets abused here and the DL is in Beck’s face. That leads to another bad decision and throw. Just take the sack, brother.
Above- Toney is the star. He’s been used on screens, bubbles, a potential jet sweep pass and now just a straight jet sweep. He scores and gives Miami a fighting chance.
Above- Miami can tie it up with a FG after this Toney reverse pass to Daniels. The young fella does it all for The U from passes to catches and runs.
Above- With under a minute to go Beck gets suckered into this throw and it’s a diving INT from the Cards. That’s Beck’s 4th pick of the game and Miami’s 1st loss of ‘25.
It’s been a tough go to watch this one back and see the team so close yet so far from moving on to 6-0. Miami, with all of their faults in this game (penalties, dropped INT’s, turnovers, and limited run game) still came within three points of tying it up and forcing OT.
Transfer QB Darian Mensah is more mobile and less of a turnover threat than Beck. He’ll be behind a truly orange and green OL, but will have his buddy Cooper Barkate, Lofton, and Mark Fletcher to rely on.