No. 10 Louisville beats Miami to clinch spot in ACC title game, keep CFP hopes alive

No. 10 Louisville is headed to the ACC title game for the first time in program history.

Thanks to a 38-31 road win over Miami, the Cardinals clinched a showdown with undefeated Florida State in the conference championship game and also kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive.

It wasn’t easy.

Playing just its third true road game of the season, Louisville got a four-quarter battle from Miami and found itself trailing 21-20 at halftime thanks to a pair of kicking miscues — a missed 24-yard field goal and a blocked extra point.

The teams then traded the lead throughout the second half until the score was tied at 31-31 with 5:34 to play thanks to a 51-yard field goal from Miami’s Andres Borregales.

It did not take long for Louisville to respond and score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. On a second-down play, two Miami defensive backs ran into one another, allowing Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer to find a wide-open Kevin Coleman. Once the pass was completed, Coleman was in the open field. He then sprinted past Miami safety Kam Kinchens for a 58-yard catch-and-run touchdown to give the Cardinals a 38-31 lead.

There was still 4:17 to play, so Miami still had time. Tyler Van Dyke, back into the starting lineup at quarterback following an injury to Emory Williams in last week’s loss to Florida State, led the Hurricanes deep into Louisville territory with a chance to tie the score.

In fact, the Hurricanes had a first-and-goal at the Louisville 4-yard line. But they came up empty.

Mark Fletcher gained a yard on first down and Van Dyke threw incomplete passes on second and third down. Facing fourth down, Miami inexplicably burned a timeout, and then another Van Dyke pass fell incomplete. The throw was intended for Jacolby George, who was looking for a pass interference flag. And when that flag didn’t come, George got into it with the Louisville defensive back and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Even with the turnover on downs, Miami would have still had a chance had it not wasted the first of its three timeouts and then committed a 15-yard penalty. Louisville would have been backed up inside its own 5-yard line and a three-and-out would have given Miami another chance with plenty of time since it could have stopped the clock.

Instead, Louisville was able to run out the rest of the clock and ultimately win the game by stopping Miami on a last-second Hail Mary.