A key ACC game starts a run of 7 consecutive games for the Canes.
Following their 2nd (and final) bye week in 3 weeks, the Miami Hurricanes return to action with a tough game against an opponent who would love nothing more than to ruin their season: the Louisville Cardinals.
Louisville Offense vs Miami Defense
Louisville coach Brian Brohm is a dynamic play caller, whose offenses are often among the best in the country. Brohm’s Cardinals were 13th in total offense in 2024, averaging 449.2 yards per game, 5th nationally with 6.85 yards per play, and tied for 7th nationally, with 36.4 points per game. There are more numbers to go along with this, but I’m sure you get the point. Louisville’s offense is pretty elite, no matter how you slice it.
Leading that offense this year will be QB Miller Moss. A transfer from USC, Moss is a veteran replacement for last year’s starter (and NFL draft pick) Tyler Shough.
Moss burst onto the scene with a massive bowl game in 2023 — against Louisville, ironically — when he threw for 372 yards and 6 TDs against the Cardinals in a 42-28 USC win. That performance, one that came after 3 years of waiting his turn, propelled Moss into the starting job for the Trojans in 2024.
While Moss was able to put up some decent numbers in his first full year as a starter (2,555 yards on 64.4% passing with 18 TDs and 9 INTs), USC struggled to a 4-5 record, dropping close games to Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Maryland, and Washington all by a touchdown or less. After the Washington loss, Moss was benched in favor of UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava, and that basically ended his time with the Trojans. Moss moves east to Louisville to follow the redemptive arc of Tyler Shough, who had struggled through an injury-riddled career before a strong year in Louisville led to him being picked in the NFL draft.
The Louisville run game is led by standout sophomore Isaac Brown. A South Florida native, Brown has electric game-breaking speed, which makes him a threat to score any time he touches the ball. Brown had a massive freshman year for the Cardinals, totaling nearly 1200 yards and 11 TDs on more than 7 yards a carry. He provides the balance to the Cardinals offense, and will be someone Miami will need to contain to win this game.
Joining Brown in the backfield are fellow sophomores Duke Watson and Keyjuan Brown, who combined for 850 yards and 10 TDs. That trio, led by Brown, will power Louisville’s run game again in 2025.
The Cardinals have a bevvy of pass catchers who they will look to for production. Chris Bell is the leading returning receiver, and talented (and productive) transfers Caullin Lacy (South Alabama), Dacari Collins (NC State), Bobby Golden (Akron), and Treyshun Hurry (San Jose State) add depth and talent to the group.
As you would expect with a team this explosive and productive on offense, the OL is both deep and talented. That will be the case for Louisville again in 2025, as they return 3 starters, and add 2 veteran transfers to play the other 2 spots.
Louisville Defense vs Miami Offense
While Louisville’s offense was spectacular, their defense was simply average. This is where Miami will need to take advantage to put points on the board again in a game that, at least on paper, figures to be another high scoring affair.
With 8 returning starters, and several transfers with bring a wealth of experience with them, Louisville looks to shore things up a bit on this side of the ball in complimentary support of their offense.
Up front, Louisville has decent size, with 5 rotation players listed at 295lbs or more. They don’t have the biggest DL in the world however, so Miami can lean on them in the run game (same as we saw in the late stages of the 2024 matchup between these teams).
Linebacker is a strength of the Cardinals defense, with top tacklers TJ Quinn and Stanquan Clark leading the way. This group will be key in Louisville’s efforts to neutralize the Miami run game, and short to intermediate passing game as well.
In the secondary, Louisville has a good combination of size and speed across the board, but (like Miami), nearly the entire group are transfers. The Cardinals lost 5 major contributors in the secondary from a year ago, led by 2nd team All-ACC CB Quincy Riley, but bring in 6 transfer (4 who were full time starters at their previous schools) to rebuild the group. We saw Miami carve up the Louisville secondary last year under the direction of Cam Ward, and I’ll be interested to see how this new group of DBs matches up with the revamped Canes passing game when its time.
Early Prediction
Along with Notre Dame, Florida, and SMU (and to a lesser/rivalry-extent FSU), this is one of the marquee games on Miami’s schedule this season.
Heading into last year’s game, Miami was anywhere from a 4.5 to 5.5 pt favorite, depending on the book you favor. I would expect something similar or smaller, heading into this year’s game.
Both Miami and Louisville have designs on the ACC Championship game, and this game will be a major factor in both teams’ path. I expect a high scoring, offensive game, with turnovers or a key defensive stop determining the winner.
I’ll admit, my Miami fandom (and alum status, before Louisville people find this and try to hit me with “you didn’t even go there”) make me lean Miami for the winner. But the team will need to bring their A game for that to be the case again in 2025.