Miami escapes near disaster upset against Ball State with walk-off overtime touchdown
The rout appeared to be on. Reuben Bain Jr. had just returned a fumble for a touchdown to end the first half, extending Miami's lead and Damien Martinez was wide open up the seam to open the second half.
Martinez would drop the pass, Miami would go three and out, Ball State would score on the next possession and Cam Ward's pass would bounce off an offensive lineman's helmet and result in an interception. The nightmare began for Miami and their fans, needing overtime to beat Ball State 34-31 on Saturday thanks to a walk-off touchdown pass from Ward to Jacolby George on their first overtime possession.
Despite their second half struggles, Miami had plenty of chances to put the game away, leading by a touchdown with 1:53 remaining in the game and the ball on Ball State's 40-yard line on fourth and four. Mario Cristobal opted to keep his offense on the field with Ward's pass to Elijah Arroyo falling incomplete.
The Cardinals, led by quarterback Kadin Semonza, went right down the field thanks to a sixteen yard scramble by Semonza and a 22-yard completion to Qia Magwood to get them to the Miami two-yard line. The Hurricanes defense, which held Florida to fourteen points in the season, stiffened at the goal-line, forcing a fourth and two where Vaughn Pemberton bounced off tacklers to tie the game.
The Hurricanes had another chance at winning the game when Ward completed passes of 13, 23 and 17 yards to get the ball to the 33-yard line but Andre Borregales's 50-yard field goal sailed wide left.
Ball State went three-and-out on the first overtime series, settling for a field goal.
Week 3 Top Stories
1. Ohio State's Will Howard and TreVeyon Henderson among early Heisman favorites
2. Georgia drops second game of the season, this time against unranked Kentucky
3. Kansas State fails early season test in blowout loss to #13 Arizona
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 3 ACC Results
No conference games
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 4 ACC Schedule
Stanford (2-0, 0-0) at Syracuse (2-0, 1-0)
Georgia Tech (2-2, 0-2) at #14 Louisville (2-0, 0-0)
California (1-2, 0-0) at #21 Florida State (2-1, 1-1)
NC State (2-1, 0-0) at #6 Clemson (2-0, 0-0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 4 Notable Games
USC (1-1, 0-0) at #2 Michigan (3-0, 0-0)
#12 Tennessee (3-0, 0-0) at #25 Oklahoma (2-1, 0-0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Players of the Week
QB Haynes King (Georgia Tech): W 56-0 vs. VMI - 22-32, 288 yds, 5 TD, 12 att, 102 yds, 2 TD
S Quentavius Scandrett (Eastern Michigan): W 31-27 vs. Jacksonville State - 8 tkl, INT, FF, 2 FR
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QB Haynes King (Georgia Tech): W 56-0 vs. VMI - 22-32, 288 yds, 5 TD, 12 att, 102 yds, 2 TD
DE Ryan Smith (Duke): L 20-13 vs. UConn - 6 tkl, sack
‣ CFB 2024 Regular Season, Week 4 - Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Florida (3-0, 0-0)#18 Miami Hurricanes at South Florida Bulls (2-1, 0-0 American)MIA | 6 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 30 USF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10
No. 18 Miami Hurricanes dominate South Florida Bulls with a 30-10 victory
The team that many projected to win the ACC finally showed up in Tampa as the Miami Hurricanes were impressive in all phases on their way to a 30-10 win over South Florida on Saturday.
The Hurricanes featured a well balanced offense against the Bulls, rushing for 266 yards and throwing for 192 with three touchdowns to overcome their redzone woes. Cam Ward was efficient, completing 24 of 34 passes for 192 yards. The rushing attack was led by Mark Fletcher with 103 yards on ten carries while Damien Martinez did plenty of dirty work earlier in the game, carrying the ball seventeen times for 73 yards.
Ajay Allan added 45 yards on the ground, most of it coming in the fourth quarter.
USF's usually explosive offense was grounded with Byrum Brown held to just ten completions on 21 pass attempts, throwing three interceptions and being held to negative yardage on the ground. The Bulls were able to spring some runs with Ta'ron Keith rushing for 85 yards on nineteen carries, scoring a late touchdown. Scoring Summary Quarter 1 John Cannon, 28 Yd FG (10:00) Andre Borregales, 50 Yd FG (7:22) Andre Borregales, 58 Yd FG (2:45)
Quarter 2 Xavier Restrepo 6 Yd pass from Cam Ward (10:46) Elijah Arroyo 6 Yd pass from Cam Ward (0:06)
Quarter 3 Andre Borregales, 27 Yd FG (5:04) Jacolby George 17 Yd pass from Cam Ward (0:29)
Quarter 4 Ta'ron Keith, 17 Yd run (3:03) Player Stats QB Cam Ward: 24-34, 192 yds, 3 TD QB Byrum Brown: 10-21, 165 yds, 3 INT
Miami opens recruiting class with two commitments over the weekend
Eddie Fernandez -- 247 Sports Miami Insider
The Miami Hurricanes' 2025 recruiting class is off to a good start with four-star offensive tackle George Robledo and four-star cornerback Elias Raines committing to the Hurricanes on Friday.
Robledo, the sixth ranked tackle prospect in this cycle, picked the Hurricanes over Florida State, Texas A&M, UCF and NC State. The Miami native has good size at six-foot-six and well over 300-pounds with an angular frame that projects well to the next level. He does have the ability to play on either side at tackle but the Hurricanes internally view him as their left tackle of the future with the opportunity to compete right away with Markel Bell, Samson Okunlola and others once Jalen Rivers heads to the NFL.
It was largely a Nebraska, Ole Miss and Miami battle for Raines who, even as a top 200 prospect, is a bit underrated. Raines is one of the fastest players in South Florida, if not the country, with the ideal size to play outside corner at the next level. How much weight he can add on remains to be seen but even if he stays in that 180-pound range, he's shown a willingness to be physical and isn't a complete liability in run support.
With Raines, the Hurricanes have a very solid starting block, even with safety target Kasey Havner committing to the Bulldogs. The Hurricanes remain in contention for four-star cornerback Tommy Stacy, ranked inside the top 125, and a top three prospect in Kyrie Ebiketie, the five-star out of Armwood High School in the Tampa area.
This is a big recruiting weekend for the Hurricanes with several top prospects expected to be on campus including quarterback Titus Willis, running back Maurice Rugamba, tight end Kevin Pujals and receiver Miguel Escobar.
2025 Miami Recruiting Class
George Robledo [OT #6]: 6'6", 314lbs | Miami, FL | 4-star
Elias Raines [CB #15]: 6'2", 177lbs | Miami, FL | 4-star
2025 Miami Recruiting Board
Titus Willis [QB #29]: 6'1", 202lbs | Lilburn, GA | 4-star | Miami, Auburn, Minnesota, Indiana, Louisville
Maurice Rugamba [HB #10]: 6'0", 232lbs | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 4-star | Miami, Florida State, Florida, Ole Miss
Miguel Escobar [WR #25]: 6'3", 191lbs | Palm Beach Gardens, FL | 4-star | Miami, UCF
Eric Incoom [WR #61]: 5'9", 204lbs | Pompano Beach, FL | 4-star | Miami, Georgia, UCF
Kevin Pujals [TE #11]: 6'2", 254lbs | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 4-star | Miami, Florida State
Richard Cookus [OT #12]: 6'4", 289lbs | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 4-star | Miami, Florida State, Florida, Auburn
Kevin Yeboah [DT #3]: 6'1", 288lbs | Oxford, AL | 5-star | Miami, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Florida State, Ole Miss
Walt Coffey [OLB #3]: 6'4", 256lbs | Opelika, AL | 5-star | Miami, Auburn, Clemson, Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida State
Tim McCracken [DT #18]: 6'5", 296lbs | Fort Myers, FL | 4-star | Miami, Florida
Marshall Kearns [ATH #17]: 6'6", 272lbs | Fort Myers, FL | 4-star | Miami, Florida State
Doug Beans [DE #7]: 6'3", 274lbs | Tampa, FL | 4-star | Miami, North Carolina, UCF, Florida
Dan Mintze [DT #22]: 6'3", 287lbs | North Palm Beach, FL | 4-star | Miami, UCF
James Fernandez [ILB #3]: 6'3", 234lbs | Miami, FL | 5-star | Miami, Georgia Tech, Florida, Auburn
Jacques Turk [ILB #4]: 5'11", 226lbs | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 4-star | Miami, UCF
Kyrie Ebiketie [CB #2]: 6'0", 193lbs | Seffner, FL | 5-star | Miami, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida, Kansas State
Denzel Major [FS #2]: 5'11", 217lbs | Bradenton, FL [IMG] | 4-star | Miami, UCF, Alabama
Tommy Stacy [CB #9]: 6'2", 191lbs | Miami, FL | 4-star | Miami, Alabama, Florida State, Florida
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Kasey Havner [SS #6]: 6'0", 218lbs | Deerfield Beach, FL | 4-star | Committed to Georgia
Week 4 Top Stories
1. The Wolfpack pull off the upset over Clemson, 40-10
2. USC completely dominates Michigan to revive season following disappointing start
3. Georgia Southern nearly shocks the world as Ole Miss avoids upset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 4 ACC Results
CUSE 20 - STAN 14 | LOU 24 - GT 23 | FSU 42 - CAL 10 | NCST 40 - CLEM 10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 5 ACC Schedule
Virginia Tech (3-1, 0-0) at #15 Miami (4-0, 0-0)
Stanford (2-1, 0-1) at #16 Clemson (2-1, 0-1)
#19 Florida State (3-1, 2-1) at SMU (2-2, 0-0)
North Carolina (3-1, 0-0) at Duke (3-1, 0-0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 5 Notable Games
#11 Louisville (3-0, 1-0) at #5 Notre Dame (4-0, 0-0)
#18 Georgia (1-2, 0-1) at #4 Alabama (3-0, 0-0)
#20 Kentucky (4-0, 2-0) at #3 Ole Miss (4-0, 0-0)
#10 Arizona (3-0, 1-0) at #6 Utah (4-0, 2-0)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Players of the Week
WR Money Parks (Utah): W 52-38 at Oklahoma State - 11 rec, 144 yds, 4 TD
DT Marley Cook (Miami): W 30-10 at USF - 5 tkl, 2 sacks, FF
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WR Chris Culliver (North Carolina): W 48-24 vs. James Madison - 10 rec, 114 yds, 3 TD
DT Marley Cook (Miami): W 30-10 at USF - 5 tkl, 2 sacks, FF
Elijah Arroyo 5 Yd pass from Cam Ward (1:35)
Charlie Spegal, 24 Yd run (8:29)
