Hurricanes defense gives up lead late in ‘painful’ Miami loss to Iowa State in Pop-Tarts Bowl

It came down to the Miami Hurricanes defense — one that had struggled most of the day and had been the team’s Achilles’ heel all season — needing to make a goal-line stand. The Iowa State Cyclones were at the Miami 2-yard line, 6 feet away from taking the lead in the final minutes of the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

First-and-goal, 1:41 left on the clock, direct snap to running back Carson Hansen. No gain.

Second-and-goal, 1:11 left on the clock, pass attempt, incomplete.

Third-and-goal, one minute left, direct snap to Hansen, 1 yard gain.

Fourth-and-goal, 55 seconds left, quarterback run by Rocco Becht ... touchdown Iowa State. Lead Iowa State.

The Hurricanes, with their star quarterback on the sideline down the stretch, could not muster a final comeback.

Final score from Orlando’s Camping World Stadium: No. 18 Iowa State 42, No. 13 Miami 41.

And so the Hurricanes (10-3) continue their wait for a bowl game win. They haven’t won a postseason game since 2016 and have now lost six consecutive bowl games.

And so the Hurricanes enter the offseason having lost three of their final four games — by a combined 10 points — after starting the season 9-0 and having aspirations for both winning the Atlantic Coast Conference and reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff.

“Just painful,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said of the loss.

The Hurricanes took their first lead of the game on an Andres Borregales 30-yard field goal with 16 seconds left in the second quarter that put them ahead 31-28. It capped a first half that at one point saw eight consecutive touchdowns scored in a span of 17 minutes.

Ward only played in that first half, completing 12 of 19 passes for 190 yards and three touchdown passes — 4 yards to Jacolby George, 40 yards to Joshisa Trader and 33 yards to Elijah Arroyo — before handing the game over to Emory Williams in the second half. Damien Martinez, who finished with a game-high 179 rushing yards before leaving late with an injury, had a 75-yard rushing touchdown to account for Miami’s other first-half touchdown.

Iowa State countered in the first half with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Becht to tight end Gabe Burkle and three touchdowns from Hansen — rushes of 30 and 1 yard plus a 13-yard catch — over that span of eight consecutive touchdown drives.

Ward finished his one UM season completing 305 of 454 passes for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns against seven interceptions. The completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns are all single-season school records. So, too, is the 67.2% completion rate.

For his five-year college football career, which included two years apiece at FCS level Incarnate Word and Washington State, Ward’s had 18,189 passing yards and 158 passing touchdowns — breaking Case Keenum’s record of 155 for most in a career at the Division I level — against 53 interceptions.

“He was exemplary,” Cristobal said of Ward’s time at Miami.

Williams led Miami to points on each of his first two drives. A 10-play, 71-yard drive ended with a Mark Fletcher Jr. 1-yard rushing touchdown to put Miami up 38-28 with 8:09 left in the third quarter. After Iowa State responded with a touchdown drive of its own, the Hurricanes went 72 yards on 14 plays — including 28 yards on an Elija Lofton run on a fake punt — before stalling at the Iowa State 3 and settling for a Borregales 21-yard field goal to go up 41-35 with 9:40 left to play.

The defense got one stop after that and had held Iowa State to just 64 yards in the second half overall before the Cyclones (11-3) marched 84 yards on 15 plays on their final drive to take the lead for good.

UM’s defense overall gave up 415 yards and allowed 40-plus points for the third time in its final seven games.

“When we when, we win as a team. We lose, we lose as a team as well,” Cristobal said. “When you look at certain aspects of our game, there were some issues. Sometimes it’s communication, and sometimes it’s alignment. Obviously it’s nowhere near the standard for us. ... But yeah, there were some issues. It’s not acceptable.”

This and that

▪ With two field goals and five made extra points on Saturday, Borregales set the school record for career points scored. He finishes his four-year UM career with 405 points, two more than the previous record of 403 set by Michael Badgley.

▪ Martinez became the first Hurricanes running back with at least 1,000 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in a season since Mark Walton in 2016 (1,117 rushing yards, 14 rushing touchdowns).