Carter Davis kicked a 47-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining, Carson Beck passed for two touchdowns in his Miami debut and the No. 10 Hurricanes never trailed while recording a 27-24 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame on Sunday night in the season opener for both teams at Miami Gardens, Fla.
CJ Daniels made an acrobatic touchdown grab and Malachi Toney had six receptions for 82 yards and one score for the Hurricanes. CharMar Brown tacked on a rushing score and Rueben Bain had a key interception for Miami.
Redshirt freshman CJ Carr was 19-of-30 passing for 221 yards, two touchdowns and one interception and also rushed for a score in his first career start for Notre Dame. Micah Gilbert and Jordan Faison had scoring receptions for the Fighting Irish.
Star running back Jeremiyah Love had just 33 yards on 10 carries for Notre Dame, which lost to Ohio State in last season’s national championship game.
Beck, who transferred from Georgia, completed 12 in a row at one point and finished 20 of 31 for 205 yards.
After the Fighting Irish scored 10 straight points to tie it at 24, Miami moved 46 yards on 10 plays and Davis showed good length with his boot through the uprights to put the Hurricanes ahead.
Miami’s pass rush then kicked into a higher gear by forcing an intentional grounding — that resulted in a 10-second runoff — and notching a sack to finish off the victory.
The Fighting Irish made it a one-score game when Noah Burnette booted a 39-yard field goal with 5:32 remaining to cut their deficit to 24-17.
Notre Dame forced a three-and-out to quickly get the ball back. On the first play, Miami had a breakdown in coverage and Eli Raridon (five catches, 97 yards) was wide open at midfield and raced to the 10-yard line to complete a 65-yard play.
Two plays later, Carr scored on a 7-yard quarterback draw to tie the score with 3:21 to play.
Miami led 14-7 at halftime before opening the third quarter with a stellar 12-play, 75-yard drive that took seven minutes, 37 seconds. Brown finished the excursion with a 5-yard run to give the Hurricanes a 14-point advantage.
The Fighting Irish moved within seven on the first play of the final quarter when Carr tossed a 1-yard scoring pass in the right flat to Faison.
Notre Dame got the ball back less than three minutes but Miami’s Keionte Scott tipped a pass thrown toward the sideline and two other players — one from each team — deflected the ball before Bain collected it and returned it 15 yards to the Fighting Irish 28.
The takeaway set up a 38-yard field goal by Davis as the Hurricanes took a 24-14 lead with 9:42 remaining.
Miami scored with 12 seconds left in the first half on Beck’s 20-yard pass to Daniels, who leaped and caught the ball with his right hand to give the Hurricanes a 14-7 lead.
