Week 12 Preview: at North Carolina Tar Heels
Record: 5-5, 3-3 ACC
Head Coach: Mack Brown
Offensive Scheme: Spread
Defensive Scheme: 4-3
Notable Results
at #17 TCU (7-3): W 23-20
vs. BYU (3-7): L 26-14
at Duke (6-4): W 20-13
vs. #24 Notre Dame (7-3): L 25-24
at Clemson (6-4): L 34-24
vs. Syracuse (3-7): L 26-0
at Pittsburgh (8-4): L 20-17
at Virginia (4-6): W 35-21
‣ CFB 2026 Regular Season, Week 12 - Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (9-1, 6-0 ACC)#1 Miami Hurricanes at North Carolina Tar Heels (5-5, 3-3 ACC)MIA | 7 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 38 UNC | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10
Damari Brown sets Miami record in Hurricanes blowout of Tar Heels
Whenever you're in the same sentence as Bennie Blades and Sean Taylor, you're doing something right as a defensive back.
Miami senior cornerback Damari Brown intercepted North Carolina's Conner Harrell twice on Saturday, tying and then breaking Miami's thirty-year old record for most interceptions in a season with his eleventh of the year in Miami's 38-10 blowout win over the Tar Heels.
Brown, who has more interceptions by himself than eleven ACC teams, is now tracking down Ed Reed's record for most career interceptions, needing five more to eclipse him. As it currently stands out, only Reed, Blades and Jim Dooley have intercepted more passes as a Miami Hurricane.
It was a drama free night for the Hurricanes who jumped out to an early lead and still rushed for over 100 yards despite leading running back Mark Fletcher leaving the game with an illness after his 22-yard touchdown pass from Keke Hagg. Emory Williams got the start, completing 20 of 27 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown to Maurice Rugamba. Hagg was sprinkled in, throwing for 141 yards and two touchdowns with a late interception. Scoring Summary Quarter 1 Mark Fletcher 22 Yd pass from Keke Hagg (0:54)
Quarter 2 Maurice Rugamba 5 Yd pass from Emory Williams (10:41) Liam Boyd, 32 Yd FG (6:31) James Rutter, 28 Yd FG (1:50)
Quarter 3 Jordan Lyle, 2 Yd run (2:40)
Quarter 4 Alex Broome 20 Yd pass from Christian Acosta -- 2pt failed (8:46) Keke Hagg, 2 Yd run (11:54) Durell Robinson, 1 Yd run (3:19) Eric Incoom 14 Yd pass from Keke Hagg (2:24) Player Stats QB Emory Williams: 20-27, 180 yds, TD, sacked once QB Keke Hagg: 11-23, 141 yds, 2 TD, INT, sacked twice QB Conner Harrell: 29-42, 266 yds, 3 INT, sacked 4 times
WR Joshisa Trader: 8 rec, 70 yds WR Eric Incoom: 3 rec, 32 yds, TD WR Christian Hamilton: 7 rec, 99 yds TE Jahlil German: 5 rec, 47 yds
LT Markel Bell: 62.8 PFF grade LG Frankie Tinilau: 64.2 PFF grade C Will Larkins: 80.6 PFF grade RG Juan Minaya: 83.8 PFF grad RT Francis Mauigoa: 70.1 PFF grade
CB Damari Brown: 9 tkl, 2 INT DE Marquise Lightfoot: 7 tkl, 4 TFL, 2.5 sacks S Zaquan Patterson: 2 tkl, tfl, int CB Kahlil Conley: 12 tkl, 2 TFL CB Kaleb Cost: 11 tkl INT DT Rodney Lora: 8 tkl, 4 TFL, sack
Hagg is a five-star QB with more speed so I've been rotating red zone series with him and letting him finish games when we're up. The rotation increased once Emory struggled.
Week 13 Preview: vs. Syracuse Orange
Record: 3-8, 2-6 ACC
Head Coach: Fran Brown
Offensive Scheme: Pro Style
Defensive Scheme: 3-3-5
Notable Results
at #20 Pittsburgh (8-4): W 38-28
at Virginia (5-6): L 27-13
at UConn (6-6): W 24-23
at Boston College (7-4): L 27-6
vs. SMU (6-5): L 30-13
at North Carolina (5-6): W 26-0
vs. #23 Clemson (7-4): L 31-7
at #17 Notre Dame (8-3): L 35-17
Miami's Marquise Lightfoot strengthens Heisman campaign in dominant performance against Syracuse
Syracuse Orange fans will be perfectly fine if they never have to play the Miami Hurricanes again.
For the third straight game, the Hurricanes scored at least fifty points in a dominant win over the Orange, routing them 51-17 on Saturday in the regular season finale as they prepare for an ACC Championship Game rematch against Florida State.
Emory Williams completed 24 of 32 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half before Keke Hagg finished off the game with 184 passing yards of his own. Mark Fletcher carried the ball just seven times, totaling 53 yards before his night ended early as the Hurricanes rested several of their starters in the second half. This wasn't the case for defensive players Damari Brown and Marquise Lightfoot who played into the fourth quarter with Brown recording his twelfth interception of the season while Lightfoot sacked Syracuse quarterback Braden Davis four times and returned a fumble for a touchdown.
Lightfoot now leads the country with twenty one sacks, two shy of former teammate Rueben Bain's ACC record from last year. Lightfoot will likely be one of the players in New York for the Heisman Ceremony next month, closing in on an historic season for the former five star. He's also closing on Miami's career sack record, already having broken the ACC record and needing three more to break Danny Stubbs' record. Scoring Summary Quarter 1 Jadyn Oh, 30 Yd FG (8:29) James Rutter, 47 Yd FG (4:30) Ray Ray Joseph 4 Yd pass from Emory Williams (0:00)
Quarter 2 Ray Ray Joseph 5 Yd pass from Emory Williams (9:51) Adarius Hayes, returned fumble 1 Yds (7:11) James Rutter, 23 Yd FG (0:06)
Quarter 3 Marquise Lightfoot, returned fumble 19 Yds (7:20) Yasin Willis, 75 Yd run (4:53) James Rutter, 23 Yd FG (0:40)
Quarter 4 Maurice Rugamba, 1 Yd run (9:56) Yasin Willis, 1 Yd run (7:33) Jordan Lyle, 7 Yd run (0:16) Player Stats QB Emory Williams: 24-32, 215 yds, 2 TD, sacked once QB Keke Hagg: 18-24, 184 yds QB Braden Davis: 17-32, 214 yds, INT, sacked 9 times
WR Eric Incoom: 10 rec, 96 yds WR Ray Ray Joseph: 7 rec, 88 yds, 2 TD HB Deron Tryon: 5 rec, 50 yds WR Davon Momah: 5 rec, 39 yds TE David Clement: 6 rec, 65 yds WR Tyquan Blackburn: 4 rec, 79 yds WR Cole Cofield: 4 rec, 45 yds
LT Markel Bell: 93.4 PFF grade LG Frankie Tinilau: 70.3 PFF grade C Will Larkins: 99.4 PFF grade RG Juan Minaya: 88.9 PFF grad RT Francis Mauigoa: 84.0 PFF grade
LB Jacques Turk: 8 tkl, 3 TFL, sack DE Marquise Lightfoot: 8 tkl, 4 TFL, 4 sacks, FF, FR, TD CB Damari Brown: INT S Jaeden Gould: 14 tkl CB Gregory Delaine: 13 tkl, TFL DE Rashard Perry: 4 tkl, TFL, sack