MIAMI GARDENS, FL — For all the consternation three games into the season, against a soft nonconference schedule, of what kind of team Louisville football had, the answer for all the nation to see played out Friday night against No. 2 Miami.
The Cardinals are a College Football Playoff-worthy team.
Their 24-21 win over the Hurricanes doesn’t guarantee they’ll win out or the cluttered ACC standings at the top will get them into the league’s championship game.
What they showed was they are a team that can play with the best.
Louisville handed Miami its first home loss since the last time the Cards ventured into Hard Rock Stadium in 2023 — that time to clinch a berth in the ACC championship game.
Friday night wasn’t an upset to anyone watching.
It wasn’t a fluke.
The Cards didn’t get lucky.
They never trailed, scoring on their opening drive for the first time since the season opener against Eastern Kentucky. Against a Miami defense that hadn’t allowed a first-quarter touchdown all season, they scored two to take a 14-0 after two possessions.
They never wavered, executing a game plan that baited and confused Miami quarterback Carson Beck. He’d only been intercepted three times coming into the game; Louisville sent him to the locker room with four more.
The last came from T.J. Capers with 32 seconds left just as the Canes were in range for the potential game-tying field goal.
They never blinked, even when making their biggest blunder of the game.
it looked like they had the game sealed after a Jojo Evans fourth-down interception with 7:50 remaining.
Miami fans began heading toward the exits. Some disgruntled fans appeared to make popcorn rain, throwing boxes from the upper level of the stadium in disgust.
The momentum of that moment changed on the next play.
U of L running back Isaac Brown, who rushed for a game-high 113 yards, fumbled, and Miami’s Zechariah Poyser returned it to the U of L 12. The Canes scored on the next play and added a 2-point conversion, and all of a sudden breathed life back into the home team.
This column will be updated.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football proves it is ACC’s best. Just ask Miami
