For the second time in the 2025 season, the Atlantic Coast Conference has started a college football weekend slate with an early contender for the biggest upset of the week.
Carson Beck and the Hurricanes sustained their first loss of the season on Friday, Oct. 17 with a 24-21 defeat by unranked Louisville at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Hurricanes had their backs against the wall for the entire night, as the Cardinals cashed in both of their first two drives of the night for touchdowns to get out to an early 14-0 lead. Miami would then put together a quick drive of its own to answer back and cut the deficit to 14-7 after Mark Fletcher Jr. punched one in from the 2-yard line.
That’d be about as much success as the Hurricanes’ offense would have on the night, as Miami would not find the back of the end zone again until the fourth quarter off a turnover. Beck threw four interceptions on the night, a career-high for the Georgia transfer, including one at the end of the game that sealed the Cardinals’ win despite Miami being on the edge of field goal range and only trailing by three, 24-21.
So, where will the Hurricanes fall in the latest top 25 rankings following the defeat? Here’s where they may land:
Miami football rankings: Where will Hurricanes drop after Louisville loss?
While the loss is certainly not a ‘season-ending’ one for Miami by any means, especially since it is their first loss of the season, the Hurricanes will still experience a fall in the top-25 rankings come Sunday afternoon.
As for how drastic of fall the Hurricanes will experience in the rankings, that will be answered by Saturday’s slate of games, as there are five top-25 matchups taking place throughout the country, including a top-15 matchup between No. 6 Alabama and No. 11 Tennessee.
This season, losses to unranked teams have been rather sizable and drastic. An example of this is Penn State dropping from No. 6 to No. 22 in the US LBM Coaches Poll following an unranked loss to UCLA, but that did come after a loss to No. 5 Oregon the week prior. A better example for Miami’s circumstances might be Florida State dropping 11 spots after a double-overtime loss to Virginia a few weeks back. But given that it is the first loss of the season, voters may be more lenient towards Miami in their ballots.
With that all said, the odds Miami finds itself still in the top-10 or just on the outside of the top-10 in a No. 11 or No. 12 spot are pretty favorable for the Hurricanes.
Final projection: No. 10
