By Zachary McMahon-
The no. 13 Miami Hurricanes played the no. 18 Iowa State Cyclones at the Pop-Tarts Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida on Saturday.
This is the Hurricanes seventh appearance in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, and entered the matchup with a 3-3 record. Their last appearance was in 2020, when they lost against the Oklahoma State Cowboys 37-34.
This was the third appearance for the Cyclones, who made their first appearance in 2019 and lost to Notre Dame, and also lost in the 2021 edition against Clemson.
Miami QB Cam Ward broke the record for most passing touchdowns in D1 (FBS and FCS) history with his 156th passing touchdown in the first quarter to Jacolby George. He had two more touchdowns to make it 158 in the second quarter before sitting out the second half for Emory Williams.
Ward has played since 2020, when he spent two years with Incarnate Word before spending the next two with Washington State before transferring to the Hurricanes in the offseason for his fifth season of eligibility.
Floridian Rocco Becht threw for 270 yards and three passing touchdowns for the Cyclones, and a game-winning rushing touchdown with 56 seconds left in the game, which made it the Cyclones fourth comeback victory this season as they came back from a 10-point deficit, as they won 42-41.
Damien Martinez ran for a career-high of 179 rushing yards with a touchdown for Miami, and Mark Fletcher Jr., had the second rushing touchdown for the Hurricanes.
Miami ends their season with a 10-3 record, having their first 10-win season since 2017, meanwhile Iowa State had their winningest season in program history with a 11-3 record. Before the season, they never had more than nine wins in a season.
Miami has lost their last two games when scoring 35 or more points and gaining at least 500 yards, as they also lost to Syracuse, which cost them a spot in the College Football playoff on Nov. 30. Previously, since the start of 2000, they had won 50 straight such games. The Miami Hurricanes gained 524 yards of total offense in the game.
A field goal by Andy Borregales with 9:40 left in the game that made it a 41-35 lead for the Hurricanes, broke the record for most career points by a Hurricane with 404, breaking Lions kicker Michael Badgley’s record of 403 points from 2014-2017.
Becht won the game MVP, and the MVP got to choose which flavor of Pop-Tart got to go into to the giant toaster and explode as a sacrifice, and he chose cinnamon roll.
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