September 13, 2025 Week 3 · Regular Season Belt changed hands

Miami takes the belt, 49–12, at home over South Florida.

Home · New Holder

MiamiAP No. 5 49

Away · Defending Holder

South FloridaAP No. 18 12

AP poll, week 3: South Florida No. 18 at Miami No. 5 · No. 1 that week: Ohio State. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Miami took the belt here, ending South Florida’s run of 7 days and 0 defenses (reign #327) and starting reign #328. It lasted 34 days and 2 defenses, until Louisville took it on October 17, 2025.

For Miami this was its 15th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 5 times before — and it took it back here.

This is the only time Miami and South Florida have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Miami dominated South Florida from the opening drive, with Carson Beck establishing early control through the air. Beck connected with Joshua Moore twice in the first quarter for touchdowns, including a 39-yard score, while Mark Fletcher Jr. added a rushing touchdown in the second quarter to build a commanding 28-6 halftime lead. South Florida managed only field goals in the first half despite some promising drive starts, including a 53-yard completion to Chas Nimrod that stalled. The Hurricanes sealed the belt in the second half with Beck leading precision scoring drives, capping a 36-yard completion to Keelan Marion with Fletcher's third-quarter touchdown run and a late fourth-quarter score from Girard Pringle Jr., while South Florida's only fourth-quarter touchdown came too late to threaten the outcome.

Carson Beck to Joshua Moore for 39-yard TD in Q1 - Miami established early offensive dominance
Mark Fletcher Jr. 38-yard rushing TD in Q2 - extended Miami's lead to 28-6 before halftime
Mark Fletcher Jr. 13-yard rushing TD in Q3 - put the game completely out of reach
Byrum Brown interception to Bryce Fitzgerald in Q2 - South Florida's offensive momentum halted at crucial moment

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

By Quarter

Line score

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Miami	14	14	7	14	49
South Florida	3	3	0	6	12

Pulled directly from CFBD’s play-by-play record, the same source as every score in the lineage.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

MiamiSouth Florida

Total yards576332

Rushing yards20540

Passing yards371292

First downs2715

3rd down conv.7/117/19

Turnovers22

Penalties–yards9–692–15

Time of possession36:0123:59

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q3 11:21	Miami	+0 yd	Carson Beck pass intercepted James Chenault return for no gain to the USF 31
Q3 11:21	Miami	+0 yd	Carson Beck pass intercepted James Chenault return for no gain to the USF 31
Q3 9:57	South Florida	+6 yd	Byrum Brown run for 6 yds to the MIA 47 Byrum Brown fumbled, recovered by MIA Chase Smith
Q3 7:28	South Florida	+28 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Keshaun Singleton for 13 yds to the USF 23 for a 1ST down Miami Penalty, Face Mask (15 yards) (Damari Brown) to the USF 38 for a 1ST down
Q3 6:53	South Florida	+30 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Wyatt Sullivan for 30 yds to the MIA 27 for a 1ST down
Q3 3:17	Miami	+24 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Malachi Toney for 24 yds to the MIA 34 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:41	Miami	+36 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Keelan Marion for 36 yds to the USF 30 for a 1ST down
Q3 0:35	Miami	+13 yd	Mark Fletcher Jr. run for 13 yds for a TD (Carter Davis KICK)
Q3 0:00	South Florida	+26 yd	End of 3rd Quarter
Q3 0:28	South Florida	+22 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Sam Franklin for 7 yds to the USF 32 for a 1ST down Miami Penalty, Personal Foul (Armondo Blount) to the USF 47 for a 1ST down
Q3 0:00	South Florida	+26 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Keshaun Singleton for 26 yds to the MIA 27 for a 1ST down
Q4 12:48	South Florida	+12 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Christian Neptune for 12 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed)
Q4 11:14	Miami	+51 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Tony Johnson for 51 yds to the USF 17 for a 1ST down
Q4 7:04	Miami	+1 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to CharMar Brown for 1 yd for a TD (Carter Davis KICK)
Q4 1:48	Miami	+5 yd	Girard Pringle Jr. run for 5 yds for a TD (Bert Auburn KICK)
Q1 12:21	Miami	+20 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Malachi Toney for 20 yds to the USF 27 for a 1ST down
Q1 9:34	Miami	+8 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Joshua Moore for 8 yds for a TD (Carter Davis KICK)
Q1 2:58	Miami	+39 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Joshua Moore for 39 yds for a TD (Carter Davis KICK)
Q1 0:26	South Florida	+45 yd	Nico Gramatica 45 yd FG GOOD
Q1 2:24	South Florida	+43 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Chas Nimrod for 43 yds to the MIA 29 for a 1ST down
Q2 11:16	South Florida	+28 yd	Nico Gramatica 28 yd FG GOOD
Q2 11:56	South Florida	+53 yd	Byrum Brown pass complete to Chas Nimrod for 53 yds to the MIA 12 for a 1ST down
Q2 10:27	Miami	+20 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to Mark Fletcher Jr. for 20 yds to the USF 38 for a 1ST down
Q2 10:05	Miami	+38 yd	Mark Fletcher Jr. run for 38 yds for a TD (Carter Davis KICK)
Q2 5:36	South Florida	+0 yd	Byrum Brown pass intercepted Bryce Fitzgerald return for no gain to the USF 25
Q2 2:33	Miami	+2 yd	Carson Beck run for 2 yds for a TD (Carter Davis KICK)
Q2 1:42	South Florida	+21 yd	Chase Leon punt for 46 yds , Malachi Toney returns for 21 yds to the MIA 42
Q2 1:36	Miami	+27 yd	Carson Beck pass complete to CJ Daniels for 27 yds to the USF 31 for a 1ST down South Florida Penalty, Defensive Pass Interference (Jarvis Lee) declined for a 1ST down
Q2 1:16	Miami	+27 yd	Carson Beck pass intercepted Jarvis Lee return for 27 yds to the USF 42

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Miami

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Carson Beck	23/28	340	12.1	3	2	91.4
Emory Williams	2/2	31	15.5	0	0	99.8

South Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Byrum Brown	20/36	274	7.6	1	1	37.7
Gaston Moore	4/5	18	3.6	0	0	73.0

Rushing

Miami

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Mark Fletcher Jr.	16	120	7.5	2	38
Carson Beck	6	28	4.7	1	11
CharMar Brown	9	22	2.4	0	8
Keelan Marion	1	13	13.0	0	13
Girard Pringle Jr.	5	12	2.4	1	5
Emory Williams	1	10	10.0	0	10

South Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Alvon Isaac	6	20	3.3	9
Cartevious Norton	2	10	5.0	7
Sam Franklin	4	10	2.5	5
Byrum Brown	13	2	0.2	6
Nykahi Davenport	2	-2	-1.0	2

Receiving

Miami

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Keelan Marion	6	81	13.5	0	36
Malachi Toney	6	66	11.0	0	24
Tony Johnson	2	64	32.0	0	51
Joshua Moore	3	61	20.3	2	39
C.J. Daniels	4	56	14.0	0	27
Mark Fletcher Jr.	2	25	12.5	0	20
Luka Gilbert	1	17	17.0	0	17
CharMar Brown	1	1	1.0	1	1

South Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Chas Nimrod	4	128	32.0	0	53
Wyatt Sullivan	5	55	11.0	0	30
Keshaun Singleton	2	39	19.5	0	26
Christian Neptune	7	32	4.6	1	12
Jonathan Echols	2	18	9.0	0	13
Alvon Isaac	2	10	5.0	0	9
Sam Franklin	1	7	7.0	0	7
Joshua Porter	1	3	3.0	0	3

Show more stats (6 more categories)

Defense

Miami

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Rueben Bain Jr.	6	2	0	1	1	0
Akheem Mesidor	6	1	0.5	0.5	0	0
Chase Smith	5	2	0	0	1	0
Jakobe Thomas	4	3	0	0	0	0
Ahmad Moten	4	1	0	0	0	0
Ethan O'Connor	3	3	0	1	0	0
Dylan Day	3	2	0	0	0	0
Isaiah Taylor	2	2	0	0	0	0
Booker Pickett	2	1	1	1	0	0
Raul Aguirre Jr.	2	1	0	0	0	0
Damari Brown	2	1	0	0	0	0
Ja'Boree Antoine	2	1	0	0	0	0
Keionte Scott	2	0	0	0	0	0
Daylen Russell	2	0	0	0	0	0
Zechariah Poyser	2	0	0	0	1	0
David Blay	2	0	0	0	0	1
Wesley Bissainthe	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tony Johnson	1	1	0	0	0	0
Justin Scott	1	1	0	0	0	0
Adam Booker	1	1	0	0	0	0
Xavier Lucas	1	1	0	0	0	0
CharMar Brown	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jaylin Alderman	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kamal Bonner	1	0	0	0	0	0
Marquise Lightfoot	1	0	0	0	0	0
Armondo Blount	1	0	0.5	0.5	0	0
OJ Frederique Jr.	1	0	0	0	2	0
Kellen Wiley Jr.	1	0	0	0	1	0
Bryce Fitzgerald	1	0	0	0	0	0
Mohamed Toure	0	0	0	0	1	0

South Florida

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Jhalyn Shuler	8	7	0	0	0	0
Mac Harris	8	5	1	1	0	1
Fred Gaskin	7	4	0	0	0	0
Ricardo Watson	6	3	0	0	0	0
Joshua Celiscar	5	3	0	0	0	0
De'Shawn Rucker	4	4	0	0	0	0
Zavier Hamilton	3	2	0	0	0	0
James Chenault	3	2	0	0	0	0
Kajuan Banks	3	1	0	1	1	0
Devin Lee	3	0	0	0	0	0
Boogsie Silvera	2	1	0	0	0	0
Tavin Ward	2	1	0	0	0	0
Traevon Mitchell	2	1	0	0	0	0
D.J. Harris Jr.	1	1	0	0	0	0
Cedrick Hawkins Jr.	1	1	0	0	0	0
Amer Amer	1	1	0	0	0	0
Ashton Mosley	1	1	0	0	0	0
Ira Singleton	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jacob Merrifield	1	0	0	0	0	0
Dennard Flowers	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jarvis Lee Jr.	1	0	0	0	0	0
Rodney Hill	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Miami

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Chase Smith	0	0	1

South Florida

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Byrum Brown	1	1	0

Interceptions

Miami

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Bryce Fitzgerald	1	0	0

South Florida

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Jarvis Lee Jr.	1	27	0
James Chenault	1	0	0

Kicking

Miami

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Carter Davis	0/0	0.0	0	6/6	6
Bert Auburn	0/0	0.0	0	1/1	1

South Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Nico Gramatica	2/2	100.0	45	0/0	6

Punt Returns

Miami

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Malachi Toney	2	18	9.0	21	0

South Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Joshua Porter	1	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Miami

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Dylan Joyce	3	137	45.7	0	2	51

South Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Chase Leon	5	241	48.2	0	2	52

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401754535) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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