Louisville might have just turned the ACC on its head.
No. 2 Miami committed four turnovers in a 24-21 home loss to the Cardinals on Friday night. The Hurricanes were thoroughly outplayed by the Cardinals as all four turnovers were Carson Beck interceptions.
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The fourth came with 32 seconds to go as Beck’s pass out to the flat was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by TJ Capers.
Capers’ pick at the Louisville 30-yard line came on the 12th play of what looked to be a drive that was either going to send the game to overtime or result in a Miami win.
Before Friday night, Miami had won 10 straight home games. The Hurricanes’ last loss? To Louisville in 2023.
Louisville looked like it had the game won halfway through the fourth quarter when Beck threw his third interception as the Cardinals led 24-13. But Miami immediately forced a fumble and star freshman Malachi Toney scored a TD on a jet sweep before throwing a 2-point pass to cut the lead to three.
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But the Hurricanes couldn’t capitalize after forcing Louisville to punt.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first half after scoring on their first two drives. The second TD came on a 35-yard pass from Miller Moss to Chris Bell as Miami struggled to find answers for Bell. He finished the game with nine catches for 136 yards and two scores, while RB Isaac Brown had 15 carries for 113 yards.
Moss was 23-of-37 passing for 248 yards and those two TD passes to Bell, while Beck was 25-of-35 passing for 271 yards.
The four-interception performance might have ended any shot Beck had at the Heisman. While there’s still six games remaining for Beck to get back into the race, a game with no TD passes and four interceptions is hard to come back from. He entered Week 8 as the Heisman co-favorite alongside Alabama’s Ty Simpson at +350 at BetMGM.
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Is the ACC now wide open?
Just two weeks ago, Miami (5-1, 1-1 in ACC) looked like the clear frontrunner in the ACC. Now, the Hurricanes sit at 1-1 in the conference while there are four teams at either 3-0 or 2-0 and Louisville (5-1, 2-1) is among two teams at 2-1.
Georgia Tech and Virginia are in that group at 3-0 and neither seem to have an incredibly challenging schedule the rest of the way. Granted, Miami doesn’t either. But the Yellow Jackets and Cavaliers do not have any ranked teams remaining on their conference schedules. And if Georgia Tech gets past Duke on Saturday, it should be favored in every game the rest of the season.
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However, the ACC’s parity means that Georgia Tech and Virginia are going to have a tough road to stay undefeated. Just ask Miami, who was an 11.5-point favorite Friday night. Florida State lost at home to Pitt after losing at Virginia three Fridays ago and Clemson is 2-2 in the conference after losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse.
Like the rest of college football, the ACC is going to be unpredictable over the second half of the season.
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