MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami quarterback Carson Beck leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in passing accuracy. And Louisville leads the ACC in completion percentage defense.
Seems like a classic something’s-got-to-give game awaits Friday night.
No. 2 Miami (5-0, 1-0) plays host to Louisville (4-1, 1-1) in a matchup of two teams that have proven they can score but have relied on their defenses for much of the first half of the year. Louisville comes into the game ranked No. 1 in the ACC in total defense, allowing 262 yards per game, a smidge ahead of Miami (276.4) on that list.
“We’ll definitely have to play very well in order to win, but that’s why you practice all week and get ready to face a great opponent,” Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said. “Great opportunity to play an outstanding football team that’s playing as good as anyone in the country right now. We’re going to have to play really well in order to win.”
The game should have an outstanding quarterback matchup. Beck is completing 73.4% of his passes so far this year — on pace to shatter the Miami single-season record set by No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Cam Ward last season — and Louisville’s Miller Moss is seeking what would be his fourth consecutive 300-yard passing game.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal — whose team has already beaten Notre Dame, South Florida, Florida and Florida State this season, four teams that either are or have been in the AP Top 25 at some point in 2025 — had extremely high praise for Louisville.
“It’s as complete of a team that we have faced, or will face, all year long, both in their play style and their talent levels,” Cristobal said. “They have done just an excellent job forcing negative plays, disrupting the schedule of the offense. They just play really hard, really fast. … They get to the ball with bad intentions. They force a lot of turnovers. Just a really impressive football team.”
Miami at home
The Hurricanes have won 10 straight at home, officially their longest winning streak at Hard Rock Stadium since moving into that facility in 2008.
It is Miami’s longest home winning streak since winning 26 straight at the now-demolished Orange Bowl from 1999 through 2003. (The Hurricanes did have a 13-game run of regular season home wins from 2016 through 2018, though that run also had a loss to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock to close the 2017 season.)
The last team to beat Miami at home? That would be Louisville, 38-31 winners in 2023.
Louisville vs. Ranked
The Cardinals have beaten at least one AP-ranked opponent in each of the last three seasons. That ties the longest such streak in school history; it also happened from 2000 through 2002, then again from 2006 through 2008.
Louisville is 1-8 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the AP poll. The win was 63-20 over Florida State in 2016.
Only 5 so far
Miami and Louisville are two of the four remaining FBS teams yet to play their sixth game this season. The Hurricanes and Cardinals have each played five, as has North Carolina (which plays at California on Friday night) and Kentucky (which plays host to Texas on Saturday night).
Most teams — 111 — have already played six games this season, and another 21 have already played seven regular-season contests.
Miami and North Carolina enter Friday as the only teams who have played just one conference game to this point, excluding Notre Dame and UConn, which are both independents.
Friday Night Lights
Cristobal isn’t a huge fan of Friday night games, just because he’d rather see the spotlight on high school games.
This is Miami’s only Friday game of the season. The Hurricanes had a Sunday game to open the year against Notre Dame, and everything else on the regular season slate is a Saturday matchup.
“Big picture-wise, you always would love for Thursdays and Fridays to be high school. It belongs to them,” Cristobal said. “And then Saturdays for college and then Sundays for the NFL. … There’s enough to go around and I’m all about it. Play football every day, as long as humanly possible, and the world will be a better place.”
The series
Miami is 12-4-1 all-time against Louisville. And if recent matchups are any indicator, expect a ton of points Friday.
The scores of the last four Hurricanes-Cardinals games: Miami won 52-27 in 2019, Miami won 47-34 in 2020, Louisville won 38-31 in 2023, and Miami won 52-45 last year.