Mario Cristobal praised Louisville QB Tyler Shough, who he coached at Oregon

Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough was a freshman under Mario Cristobal as the head coach at Oregon in 2018. Shough was the 140th ranked prospect, the seventh pro-style QB and top player in Arizona in 2018. On Saturday, Shough will play opposite Cristobal on Saturday when Miami plays at Louisville.

In three years under Cristobal at Oregon, Shough completed 64.8 percent of his pass attempts for 1,703 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions while rushing for 282 yards and another two scores. After Justin Herbert left for the NFL after the 2019 season, Shough became Oregon's starting quarterback in 2020.

During the Covid-shortened season, Shough completed 64.8 percent of his pass attempts on 63.5 percent of his pass attempts for 1,559 yards, 13 TDs and six interceptions and recorded 271 rushing yards and another pair of scores in seven games. Shough spent the previous three seasons at Texas Tech before transferring to Louisville this year.

Fully healthy, Shough is having his best season. Shough has completed 63.4 percent of his pass attempts and has already set career highs with 1,674 pass yards and 14 touchdowns with just three interceptions. Cristobal praised Shough for his leadership and vision on the field.

“Tyler Shough was (20)20 quarterback for us at the University of Oregon and helped lead us to a conference championship…I can…speak personally on his behalf. He's a great competitor, a great quarterback big, strong, can run, sees the field very well, has a live arm and can make any throw and is a competitor at the highest level. All right, great young man from a great family and he's a born leader.

– Miami head coach Mario Cristobal

Louisville is 4-2 with two seven-point losses to Notre Dame and SMU. Shough helped Louisville break a two-game losing streak with a 24-20 comeback win at Virginia last week. Shough and wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks are one of the best tandems in the ACC.

Brooks is second in the ACC with 572 receiving yards, 11th with 30 receiving yards and leads the conference with six touchdown catches. The top two receivers in the ACC will face off Saturday at noon. Miami's Xavier Restrepo leads the ACC with 585 receiving yards, is seventh with 32 receiving yards and is second with five touchdown receiving yards.

Louisville expects Miami to be the best team in the 2024 regular season. The Cardinals are ranked 15th in the ESPN Football Power Index. Miami needs a better performance from its secondary. The Hurricanes can't allow Shough and Brooks to combine for explosive plays.

Shough leads the ACC in completions of 30, 40 and 50 yards. Brooks leads the ACC in receptions of 20, 40, 50 and 60 yards. Miami has a better passing offense in Louisville than it did in California two weeks ago. Cal had four completions of 50 or more yards against Miami.