Miami, FL
No. 2 Miami looks to continue unbeaten start when it plays host to Louisville on Friday night
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — 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.”
Louisville quarterback Miller Moss (7) looks to pass before being tackled by Pittsburgh defensive lineman Jimmy Scott (44) during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. Credit: AP/Gene J. Puskar
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 Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm, right, speaks with referee Justin Elliot during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Pittsburgh. Credit: AP/Gene J. Puskar
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.
The Oregon Ducks come off a chaotic recruiting period in the 2027 cycle, where they hosted official visitors and added to their list of commitments. Coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon staff are simultaneously looking ahead to future recruiting classes.
As the 2027 cycle starts to wind down and the 2028 cycle begins to pick up, the Ducks entered the recruiting sweepstakes for four-star edge rusher Elijah Tillman.
Oregon Ducks in the Mix for Four-Star EDGE Elijah Tillman
Tillman is a 6-7, 210-pound edge rusher from Loganville, Georgia. He’s listed as a consensus four-star recruit and is ranked as high as No. 152 in the class by Rivals.
In a recent interview with Rivals’ Chad Simmons, Tillman revealed that Oregon and the Miami Hurricanes are among the schools that he wants to visit. According to 247Sports, the Ducks offered him back on April 30, 2026, while the Hurricanes extended an offer all the way on January 25, 2025.
Tillman told Rivals that the different schools in the mix are even at the moment, but that Oregon and Miami were two of the schools that he wants to go out and see.
Four-Star Elijah Tillman’s Potential Oregon Ducks Fit
Sports Spring Football | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
With Tillman’s large frame, which still has the opportunity to grow, he would provide the Ducks with size on the edge right away.
The 2027 recruiting class currently features five-star edge rusher Rashad Streets, three-star Achilles Reyna and three-star Josh Christensen at the position. The program prepares for current starters Matayo Uiagelelei and Teitum Tuioti to head to the NFL Draft at the conclusion of the 2026 season, leaving opportunities for the next couple of recruiting classes.
Additionally, the Ducks haven’t earned any commitments from the state of Georgia in their 2027 recruiting class. The last commit Lanning landed from Georgia was Dayton Raiola in the 2026 class, who made his decision on February 4, 2026. Making a big push for Tillman could possibly reignite the program’s recruiting in the Peach State.
Miami Hurricanes vs. Oregon Ducks Recruiting Battle
Miami is the other program that appears to be making a big push early for Tillman. Oregon fans are very familiar with former Ducks coach Mario Cristobal, who took Oregon recruiting to a different level before leading the Hurricanes to the National Championship game last season.
Cristobal and the Hurricanes have battled Lanning and the Ducks for blue-chip recruits more and more over the recent recruiting cycles. Most notably, Miami flipped four-star cornerback Ai’King Hall’s commitment from Oregon earlier in the 2027 cycle.
The two rivals also emerged as finalists for linebacker recruit Jalaythan Mayfield, who ended up choosing the Indiana Hoosiers. Oregon got the best of the Hurricanes once in the 2027 cycle when four-star offensive lineman Gus Corsair committed to the Pacific Northwest program over the Vanderbilt Commodores and Miami.
While the Hurricanes aren’t a Big Ten rival that the Ducks commonly go toe-to-toe with on the field and in the recruiting realm, Cristobal’s role in the recruiting rivalry adds a little bit more fuel to battles for recruits like Tillman.
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
The Miami Dolphins will have new starters at their cornerback positions since both Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas are not back with the team. The team drafted Chris Johnson in the first round and it’s pretty likely he’ll have a large role and should claim the one starting spot. The other starting spot should be up for grabs among the rest of the group. Jason Marshall is one of those players who has a better chance of claiming that starting spot after showing some flashes his rookie season. Jeff Hafley has already said he envision Marshall playing on the outside and the second-year corner should get plenty of chances to prove himself during the preseason.
You can check out that story here, and the rest of the day’s round-up below.
Phinsider News You May Have Missed
With Miami-Dade Superintendent Jose Dotres’ contract ending in February 2027, school board members are now looking to have his replacement by August.
Dotres has served as the superintendent for the third-largest school district since 2022. The school board started the search for his replacement in April.
More than 20 people applied for the position, but now only six have secured spots as semifinalists.
Here’s a closer look at who Miami-Dade’s superintendent might be:
Jose Bueno
With roughly 33 years of experience within Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Bueno currently serves as Dotres’ Chief of Staff.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Bueno’s tasks include coordinating and implementing major projects “that have significant district-wide impact on the goals of the district and involve coordination of other divisions and offices.”
He started as a teacher within the country back in 1993 and is a Florida International University and Nova Southeastern University graduate.
Ernie Lozano
Lozano is currently Broward County’s Public Schools Chief Human Resources Officer.
His passion is creating a safe and secure environment for both students and staff.
“He has been recognized for his contributions to the District’s safety and security initiatives, receiving accolades for his exceptional leadership and commitment to student and staff well-being,” according to a bio on the site for the National Student Safety and Security Conference & Workshop.
Before his career in human resources, Lozano served within education as a teacher, assistant principal and more.
Sylvia Mitchell
Hope builder, executive leadership coach and seasoned superintendent are all descriptions Mitchell has on her LinkedIn.
Living in Houston, Texas, Mitchell is familiar with the Sunshine State since she was a principal at Charter Schools USA in Fort Lauderdale back in 2012.
She has also served as superintendent twice in Texas and is currently Executive Vice President, Curriculum, Design & Development for Per Scholars.
Carlos Perez
Perez is a charter school principal in West Palm Beach and the former executive director of the Education Reform Project, a nonprofit organization based in Miami Beach.
According to the nonprofit, Perez has over 25 years of experience within education, mainly in New York, but now in Florida.
Perez has also been an assistant superintendent in the past, as well as taking part as an Executive Board Member for the New York State Association of School Personnel Administrators.
Christopher Ruszkowski
Currently based in South Carolina as CEO of South Carolina’s Children’s Fund, Ruszkowski has moved all over the country, and Florida will be no exception.
According to his LinkedIn, he served as New Mexico’s Secretary of Education back in 2019. Before living in South Carolina, he was a conservator for the Texas Education Agency. A conservator oversees the state’s takeovers of large school districts and charter school networks.
Getting his master’s at Stanford, Ruszkowski was a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover Institute located within the university.
Rafael Villalobos
Since 2022, Villalobos has been the South Region Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Before that, he was a principal for over ten years.
The Nova Southeastern alum has been in Miami for most of his life, even graduating from South Miami Senior High School in 1990.
-
Crypto3 minutes ago
Trump’s crypto grift spins into its own industry
-
Finance15 minutes agoNew changes to financial aid will be minor for UND students, bigger for loan borrowers in repayment
-
Fitness18 minutes agoThe NHS has reignited the hybrid working debate – but WFH isn’t the health risk, this is
-
Movie Reviews30 minutes ago‘Only Beautiful Things to Look At’ Review: A Handsome but Muffled Portrait of State-Sanctioned Cruelty
-
World38 minutes agoColombia Adds Massive Soundstage as Bogotá Audiovisual Market Attendance Soars and ‘Narcos’ Star-Led ‘Rookies’ Cleans Up in Project Prizes
-
News45 minutes ago
How a Beer Hall Keeps Up With a World Cup Crowd
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoShy on the dance floor? Virtual reality ‘partners’ aim to help you find your groove
-
Technology2 hours agoAre you filthy enough for a $700 portable shower?
