LOUMIA Javian Hawkins

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — When Saturday began, the Miami Hurricanes were listed as a 2½-point underdog for their visit to Cardinal Stadium to play Louisville.

By game time, enough wise guys believed in the Hurricanes to flip the point spread and make Miami a 2-point favorite. That's was a head-scratching shift in less than nine hours.

Somebody knew something -- primarily that even though Miami was ranked No. 17 and Louisville No. 18, there was still a considerable talent gap between the programs.

The Hurricanes weren’t 2 points better than the Cardinals. They were 13 points better.

"We made too many mistakes and we were not good enough on third down on both sides of the ball," Louisville coach Scott Satterfield said.

"As a collective group I would say (we) a lack of focus," U of L quarterback Mikal Cunningham said. 

In the first half, Miami was dominant on defense, limiting Louisville to a pair of field goals on seven ineffective possessions. Six times Louisville failed to convert on third down.

In the second half, the Hurricanes were overwhelmingly dominant on offense, opening the third quarter with back-to-back, one-play, 75-yard touchdown drives, one rushing, one passing.

"We have to get a better pass rush and we have to get more speed," Satterfield said. Louisville has played Miami twice in the Cards' last seven games -- and the Hurricanes have scored 99 points.

After the second Miami score, I went to Twitter and asked for opinions on the breakdowns. The comments were, well, interesting.

Satterfield said the first long touchdown was the result of a bad defensive alignment. I'll translate that as coaching error. He blamed the second one on a broken defensive assignment. I'll translate that as a player mistake. 

In five second-half drives, Miami went touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, touchdown.

The Cards slipped to 1-1 while losing their Atlantic Coast Conference opener — and their spot in the ACC pecking order among the teams trying to join Clemson in the league title push.

Miami spotted Louisville a field goal on the Cardinals’ first possession. The Hurricanes responded with touchdowns the next two times they had the ball — and never trailed again.

Back to those deflating, back-to-back, one-play, 75-yard touchdown drives, the ones that sealed the game in the second half.

The first came after Louisville opened the third quarter by cutting the Miami lead to 20-14. The Cards went 75 yards, but they needed seven plays to do it.

Louisville halfback Javian Hawkins showed all of his skills — the ability to change direction, shed tacklers and sprint. Changing direction from right to left, Hawkins covered close to 30 yards while rolling into the end zone for a 19-yard score. Hawkins delivered another dazzling night, finishing with 164 yards on 27 carries.

Miami answered in one play.

The Hurricanes sent their slot receiver in motion toward the left end. Louisville safety Russ Yeast followed.

Halfback Cam’Ron Harris took a handoff and flashed directly to the spot Yeast vacated. Nobody home. Harris ran untouched with four Cards chasing him until he was inside the Louisville 5-yard line. Cornerback Kei-Trel Clark lunged — and knocked Harris into the end zone.

Louisville rallied with an 11-play, 74-yard touchdown drive, the points coming on a 6-yard pass from Cunningham to Tutu Atwell.

Miami answered in one play. 

"It's obviously demoralizing," Satterfield said.

This time, Miami quarterback D’Eriq King found halfback Jaylan Knighton in the right flat with a short pass. There wasn’t a defender within 15 yards — and Knighton ran without fear for a touchdown.

"You have to at least make the offense drive the football," Satterfield said.

"It really was on us not doing our jobs," U of L linebacker C.J. Avery said. 

It’s difficult to sustain a comeback when the other team scores in one play. They were the kind of plays that suck the energy out of the stadium, even when the crowd was limited to 12,120 because of restrictions related to the novel coronavirus.

The game was nearly as one-sided as last season, when the Hurricanes threw six touchdown passes and beat U of L 52-27 at Miami. The visitors looked like the faster, stronger, deeper and more prolific team.

Although Louisville out-gained Miami 516 yards to 485 and Cunningham finished 26 of 36 for 307 yards and a touchdown, Satterfield called the play of his quarterback, "average." 

The reason? An interception as well as a fumble, damaging on a night when the Louisville defense did not force a turnover.

Miami even left town with a stadium record. Their kicker, Jose Borregales, made a 58-yard field goal so easily that it looked like an extra point.

Louisville will play the first of its five road games this season on Sept. 26 at Pittsburgh. The Panthers improved to 2-0 on Saturday by defeating Syracuse. Pitt has allowed only 10 points in two games.

The road trip will be the first of three consecutive for Louisville. The Cards will not play at Cardinal Stadium until Florida State visits Oct. 24.

"It's a long season," Satterfield said. "We've got a lot of work to do."

"We will get better," Avery said. "We will get better, absolutely."

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