Miami Hurricanes' Late Rally Comes Up Short In 31-24 Loss At Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind., -- The Miami Hurricanes entered Saturday with two Heisman Trophy candidates. 

Turns out, one may be more important than the other. 

The top-ranked Hurricanes showed how much they missed wide receiver Malachi Toney in a 31-24 loss on the road to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Without Toney, the Miami offense struggled for one half before getting things going late. By then, it was too late. 

The Fighting Irish's three-touchdown, second-half lead was too much to overcome. Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah, who had played flawlessly up until this point, finally showed he was human. 

He completed 24 of 43 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns but was hardly the player who was atop the Heisman list for most. Even when struggling, Mensah still had the Hurricanes in the game.

The comeback bid ended when he hit receiver Elijah Lofton for an apparent tying touchdown on fourth down with 3 minutes, 36 seconds remaining but it was ruled incomplete. The Hurricanes hopes were officially dashed on their next possession when a trick play was unsuccessful on the game's final play.  

This was the first sign of Mensah dealing with frustration. He threw his first interception of the season when the Hurricanes needed a play the most. 

Trailing 24-17 and in Notre Dame territory, he was picked off by Notre Dame's Luke Talich. The play slowed all the momentum the Hurricanes had gained in the second half. They got back into the game with a pair of touchdown throws by Mensah in the third quarter. 

Although Mensah did make up for the mistake on the next drive with a short touchdown pass to Cooper Barkate, it just wasn't enough to overcome a slow start. 

The Hurricanes were in opposite mode during the first half. Without Toney, who could miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, the offense sputtered mightily. They only had the ball for four minutes in the first quarter. In the second quarter, they failed to gain any momentum. They scored their only points on a field goal in the second quarter but that raised questions about the play-calling. They had the ball at 1 yard line but opted to run Mensah twice instead of running back Mark Fletcher. 

The only reason the Hurricanes were only down 17-3 at halftime was because of an unlikely hero. The much scrutinized defense came up with a few huge stops to prevent the Fighting Irish from blowing things open. 

The Hurricanes return to action this Saturday against the Duke Blue Devils at Hard Rock Stadium.