The Miami Hurricanes — once again — had to hold their breath and wait to see if a late call would fall in their favor.

Cam Ward was hit as he threw in the fourth quarter Saturday with Miami holding a one-score lead over the Louisville Cardinals. The ball wobbled out of his hand, a Louisville defender charged for it and ran the length of the field for what was initially ruled a game-tying fumble return for a touchdown.

“I thought it was bull,” Ward said of the initial call. “I couldn’t really see after the ball left my hand, but I knew my hand was going forward.”

After the review was completed, the referees agreed and the Hurricanes were able to exhale. Forward pass. Incomplete pass. Miami maintains possession and the lead.

The sixth-ranked Hurricanes scored two plays later on a Damien Martinez 30-yard rushing touchdown to pull away for a 52-45 win over Louisville on Saturday at L&N Financial Credit Union Stadium to keep their perfect record intact.

Miami improves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Louisville falls to 4-3 and 2-2 in league action.

“A hard-fought game,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said.

And, once again, another wild and close conference game for the Hurricanes albeit in different fashion.

The Hurricanes’ first two ACC games forced them to rally from double-digit deficits — down by 10 multiple times to Virginia Tech and down by 25 to Cal.

This time, UM had to stop Louisville from being the one to complete the rally.

Miami went to halftime with a 24-17 lead — their first halftime lead in ACC play — and added a touchdown at the start of the third quarter on a 14-play drive to go up 31-17 to begin the second half.

What followed:

▪ The Cardinals scored two touchdowns in a span of 1:07 — a 100-yard kickoff return by Caullin Lacy and a 21-yard pass from Tyler Shough to Ja’Corey Brooks after a UM fumble — to tie the game at 31-31 with 6:59 left in the third quarter.

▪ Somehow, Ward hit Xavier Restrepo for a 63-yard catch and run while being hit on the throw. That got Miami to the Louisville 2-yard line. Ward threw to Isaiah Horton in the end zone on the next play. 38-31 Miami, 3:19 left in the third quarter

▪ Louisville moved the chains on fourth down twice — once on a fake punt and then on a Hurricanes penalty — to keep a 75-yard drive alive that ended with a 4-yard pass from Tyler Shough to Duke Watson. 38-38, 13:22 left in regulation.

▪ Miami retook the lead 45-38 on a 2-yard touchdown run from Ajay Allen. The 80-yard drive was highlighted by a 59-yard catch and run from Sam Brown, who finished with three catches for 125 and had a first-half touchdown catch.

▪ And then the Hurricanes retook the two-touchdown lead on Martinez’s touchdown after the overtuned fumble recovery.

▪ The Cardinals got back within one score on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Shough to Brooks with 54 seconds left but Miami recovered the ensuing onside kick to preserve the win.

The game featured 97 total points, 986 total yards of offense (538 for Miami, 448 for Louisville) five fourth-down conversions, 18 completions of at least 15 yards and 13 run plays of at least 10 yards.

“A lot of back and forth,” Cristobal said. “Explosive plays by us. Explosive plays by them. We had some errors on special teams that certainly hurt us, but one thing that didn’t hurt us was our effort.”

Ward completed 21 of 32 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns in the win. He has thrown for at least 300 yards in every one of Miami’s games this season.

But his supporting cast stepped up as well.

The combination of Martinez, Allen and Mark Fletcher ran for 193 yards on 30 carries. Each of the Hurricanes’ four primary receivers — Restrepo, Brown, Horton and Jacolby George — scored touchdowns. Linebacker Raul “Popo” Aguirre Jr. recovered a fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter.

And while the defense allowed Louisville to stay in the game, it came up with enough plays when needed to allow Miami to leave the stadium Saturday another win and remain a rare college football undefeated late in October.

“It shows what we really want and that we really wanted it more and we don’t give up till the clock hits zero,” said defensive tackle Simeon Barrow Jr., who had six tackles, two-and-a-half tackles for loss, one sack and forced the fumble that Aguirre recovered in the end zone. “That’s a good thing to have. Everything’s gonna fix itself as we go on throughout the week, but I just think it just shows our resilience and love and passion for the game.”