After players-only meeting, No. 6 Miami braces for Louisville

The Miami Hurricanes had a players-only meeting a few days ago.What makes this interesting is that the Hurricanes don’t have the criteria usually associated with players-only meetings. They don’t have a losing record, they’re not coming off a loss and their coach is not on the hot seat.Instead, the sixth-ranked Hurricanes (6-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) are on a roll as they get set to visit Louisville (4-2, 2-1) on Saturday afternoon.Miami, which is led by Heisman Trophy contender Cam Ward at quarterback, has scored at least 38 points in every game this season.However, the Hurricanes had to rally from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Virginia Tech and overcome a 20-point hole at Cal.The Hurricanes received good news this week when it was announced that star left tackle Jalen Rivers will return from injury on Saturday for the first time since the season opener.”He’s full go,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said of Rivers.Miami leads this series 11-4-1, but Louisville went on the road last year and posted a 38-31 victory. Miami is 5-2 in Louisville, but the Cardinals have won four of the past six matchups.The Cardinals, who went 10-4 last season while reaching the ACC title game, reloaded this year by signing 15 prep recruits and bringing in 26 transfers.Among the transfers are quarterback Tyler Shough and running back Donald Chaney Jr.Shough started his career at Oregon, where he initially sat behind now-Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. In 2020, after Herbert went to the NFL, Shough won the starting job and led Cristobal’s Ducks to the Pac-12 title.However, Shough lost his job in the bowl game, and he transferred to Texas Tech and now Louisville.This is Slough’s seventh college season. He has played 36 games. This season, he is completing 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,674 yards with 14 touchdowns and three interceptions.

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