You knew it was coming eventually, and here it is. Not only the one loss, but by far the most emotionally resonant game we will be discussing in this series – last year’s season-opening defeat at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes. This was a painful enough loss at the time it happened, as a game that felt quite winnable slipped through Notre Dame’s hands. But the now obvious worst part of it was its afterlife, as reminders of it courtesy of the Canes and the ACC dogged the Irish throughout the last few weeks of the year and eventually became the core pretexts for their being bumped from the College Football Playoff.
In truth, I don’t have any substantive gripes with Miami per se stemming from this game and the subsequent playoff controversies, or indeed with the Canes generally. I am 32 and thus have no frame of reference for the Catholics vs. Convicts years; anecdotally I’ve heard their fans are terrible but I have genuinely never met one so I can’t confirm that. But as annoying as they were online last year, I think we can all acknowledge we would have been saying exactly the same thing if the scenario were reversed – and indeed have said so about Florida State’s 1993 national championship, which I notice the ACC’s outspoken representatives are not eager to discuss. Moreover, their subsequent playoff run proved Miami were more than worthy of the spot they received. This isn’t the place to relitigate the whole affair but in brief, I believe the real villain here from a rational perspective was not Miami or even the ACC – though the latter does deserve some measure of blame for their Rube Goldberg-esque tiebreaker scheme – but the committee’s increasingly unjustifiable SEC bias, which granted free passes to clearly flagging Oklahoma and Alabama teams and then distracted the nation by pitting the Canes and Irish against each other for the scraps in a cynically contrived reality television storyline.
That’s a rational analysis of the situation. But we are fans, and fandom is not rational. So make no mistake about it: this year’s game is one of the biggest revenge games I can remember Notre Dame having on the schedule and I cannot wait to be in that stadium baying for Mario Cristobal’s blood. My ticket and flights are already purchased, and I hope yours are as well. In preparation, let’s look back at that terrible night in Coral Gables and then…
Week 10: Miami Hurricanes
Last matchup: August 31, 2025 – Miami 27, Notre Dame 24
This is going to be as painful for me as it so for you, but let’s look at it in detail because this is by far the biggest game Notre Dame has this year and we’d best hope they’re learning from it. Looking back at this game the biggest thing that stands out is the trench strength of Miami, which ultimately became the key to their run through the playoffs and national title appearance. The Canes were punishing on the defensive line as they constantly pressured CJ Carr and limited Notre Dame’s running attack to only 93 sack-adjusted yards. That physicality was clear from the jump and it forced Notre Dame into a tentative attack focused on getting quick passes out to their receivers, with infamously sparing use of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price in the running game.
Both teams struggled to move the ball in the first quarter before Miami struck first with an 8-play, 70-yard drive, punctuated by a touchdown pass to Malachi Toney that should have been the last we saw of Karson Hobbs but alas was not. The Irish struck back after another exchange of punts with an 11-play drive led primarily by the running of Price, who got most of his yards for the night on this drive. Carr found Micah Gilbert in the end zone from seven yards out after scrambling for approximately 40 in the backfield.
MIAMI GARDENS, FL – AUGUST 31: Notre Dame wide receiver Micah Gilbert (14) celebrates scoring a touchdown with Notre Dame wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (1) and Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr (13) during the college football game against the University of Miami Hurricanes on August 31, 2025 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. (Photo by Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The middle-eight sequence that followed was where Miami put themselves in the driver’s seat, as a spectacular one-handed CJ Daniels catch (also a missed PD by Adon Shuler, who uncharacteristically elected not to hit Daniels in midair) gave them a 14-7 lead heading into halftime, which they extended with a 7-minute long touchdown drive to open the second half. That drive was a statement by the offensive line of Miami, who exploited Notre Dame’s weakness at defensive tackle to give Mark Fletcher and CharMar Brown juuust enough room for first down time after first down.
In comeback mode in the fourth quarter, the Irish were game for the challenge and nearly pulled it off. They first mounted an impressive touchdown drive that ended with Carr finding Jordan Faison to make it 21-14. The defense then forced a punt and handed the offense a golden opportunity to tie the game, but a disastrous poor read by Carr on an RPO led to a Reuben Bain interception which briefly had him in the Heisman conversation in the weeks to follow.
MIAMI GARDENS, FL – AUGUST 31: Notre Dame wide receiver Jordan Faison (6) runs with the ball to score a touchdown during the college football game against the University of Miami Hurricanes on August 31, 2025 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. (Photo by Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Irish defense stood tall though, holding the Canes to only a field goal which the offense equaled on their next drive. Carr then made some magic by finding Eli Raridon for a a 65-yard gain, then carrying the tying touchdown in himself with 3:21 to play. Unfortunately, Miami had one last ground and pound drive in them and notched a go-ahead field goal with 1:04 remaining, and that dominant defensive line sealed things with back-to-back sacks of Carr by Akheem Mesidor and Bain.
By far the most frustrating thing about this game was Notre Dame seeming to forget that they had the country’s most dangerous offensive player on their roster. Jeremiyah Love had only 10 carries and seemed to be an afterthought for most of the night, as a majority of those touches came in the fourth quarter. While I still maintain this was a bizarre decision and showed a lack of adaptability by Mike Denbrock and co. and the game could very well have gone differently with even one big-play carry by Love, a couple things make this a little more understandable in hindsight:
Many of the screen passes that infuriated Notre Dame fans throughout the night were actually option reads by Carr, who admirably took the blame for his mistakes in opting for the pass instead of handing the ball to Love in some of these instances.Miami defended Love extremely well. The Canes gained penetration throughout the night and sold out to stop the run, which got them enough stuffs that the Irish moved away from the run for most of the first half, before getting a little more of a push as the game went on. Carr’s reads on RPOs were responses to that pressure at the line of scrimmage, as the young quarterback defaulted to keeping the ball in his own hands. Even when the Irish tried to get Love involved in the passing game, there was always a man accounting for him and the swarming, aggressive tackling of Miami limited his room to move.
The other silver lining to this mostly Love-less evening was that as Miami sold out to stop the run and force CJ Carr to beat them, he nearly did. It wasn’t perfect as we have discussed already here, but Carr absolutely proved his mettle and more than validated his impressive skillset in a tall ask for a guy in his first collegiate start. We saw his downfield accuracy, his calm pocket presence, and his absolute determination to win in the face of constant pressure. One has to imagine at home in November in South Bend this coming year, we can expect even more. In the meantime, fuel your hate fire:
Carry it with you, my friends.