By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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On just 22 pass attempts, Williams threw for 253 yards and six touchdowns. The six passing touchdowns set a new school single-game record.

The Miami Hurricanes have undergone quite a turnaround since losing two heartbreakers in the first two weeks of the season. Since the 0-2 start, entering this Saturday, the Hurricanes had won five of their last seven.

But Miami faced a new challenge this week. From 2013-18, the Hurricanes went 2-4 the week following their game against Florida State x94 thats regardless of whether or not Miami defeated its rival.

Knocking off the Seminoles and ending the Willie Taggart era was a major victory, but it wouldnt have meant nearly as much if Miami fell back down to .500 with a loss against Louisville.

Hurricanes redshirt freshman quarterback Jarren Williams wouldnt let that happen, turning in not only the best performance of his young college career, but a record-setting one. On just 22 pass attempts, Williams threw for 253 yards and six touchdowns.

The six passing touchdowns set a new school single-game record. Behind that performance, Miami routed Louisville, 52-27.

Incredibly, the redshirt freshman broke the Miami passing touchdown record with still 6:59 left in the third quarter. He spread the ball around throughout the afternoon, as seven different Hurricanes caught a pass. Williams found four different pass-catchers on his six scores.

Williams will probably still go through some growing pains as a first-year starter, but the decision to turn to him as the teams starter a few weeks ago now appears to be a brilliant move. Since Week 3, the Hurricanes are 3-1 when they throw for multiple passing touchdowns with zero interceptions.

However, Miamis dominance of Louisville expanded beyond its quarterback Saturday. While the Hurricanes gave up 496 yards, they forced three turnovers and held the Cardinals to just 5 of 14 on third down.

The Miami special teams was even better. With the Hurricanes ahead 14-7 a little more halfway through the first quarter, K.J. Osborn returned a punt 38 yards to the Louisville 14-yard line. One play later, Miami extended its lead to 14.

Then midway through the second quarter, the Hurricanes partially blocked a Louisville punt and again began a drive deep inside Cardinals territory. Miami took advantage of the field position with another touchdown, extending the lead to 35-14.

With the victory, Miami improves to 6-4 and all but guarantees it will match its seven-win total from last season (with a matchup against FIU coming up after the bye). The Hurricanes obviously have their ultimately goals set much higher than that, but again, after an 0-2 start, to be back at least where they were a year ago while ending the season on a much better note than 2018 is a good step for this program.

More importantly, though, Miami remains in the ACC Coastal race. With a 4-3 conference record, the Hurricanes remain a game behind the Virginia Cavaliers, but Virginia still must meet Virginia Tech after Thanksgiving. The Hokies are trending in the right direction with wins in four victories in their last five games.

Should Miami and Virginia finished tied for first (with no other teams tied with them), the Hurricanes hold the head-to-head tiebreaker and would win the Coastal division.

For Louisville, on top of the three giveaways and poor third-down offense, the Cardinals committed 14 penalties for 121 yards. Even 500 yards of offense wont be enough to overcome all those mistakes.

The loss is certainly disappointing, but Louisville remains one game above .500 with a 5-4 record despite the defeat at Miami. The Cardinals should be able to win at least one of their final three games to earn bowl eligibility, which will be a tremendous accomplishment after just two victories last year.