Miami Hurricanes Football: Miami HC Mario Cristobal
Postgame Press Conference Transcripts
Sat., Oct. 7, 2023
Hard Rock Stadium
Opening statement…
“Thank you for your patience. Obviously disappointing in a lot of different aspects. Obviously, again, just fell short in so many different ways. Battled. There were some signs of life. Not having a great first half, but coming out in the second half, doing some things and falling behind and getting up again. And then, at the end of the game, had a chance to put it away and should have just taken a timeout right there and recalibrate. Just take a knee. Gave them a chance and they took advantage of it and scored. It’s that simple.”
On the final drive…
“When the drive started, it was going to be a 1:57 and we burned about 1:27 off and then it was recalibrated. We should’ve taken a timeout, right there at the end. Thought we could get the first down. We talked about two hands on the ball but that’s not good enough. Should have told them to take a knee. That’s it. Fumbled the ball at the 25 and they went 75 yards in two plays. No excuse.”
On whether Georgia Tech had timeouts left…
“There was no confusion. We were moving the pile and we had a pretty good drive going…I’m not going to make an excuse for it and say we should’ve done this or that. That’s it. We should have done it. Sometimes, you get carried away where they just finish the game and run it, but I should’ve stepped in and said, ‘hey, take a knee.’”
On Georgia Tech’s defensive scheme…
“They played coverage, so all the stuff was underneath. To be effective against what they were playing, you just have to be patient and methodical. So, we were moving the ball, get to midfield and maybe a little beyond and just weren’t finishing drives. We had penalties that hurt us. We had an option route where we weren’t on the same page, miscommunication, and threw an interception. We had a penalty that nullified a touchdown in the redzone. We had some miscues in the first half. You have to give them credit too, you don’t want to sound arrogant about it. We didn’t play to our standard, which means we didn’t coach to our standard. We felt like we had a good week of preparation last week and this week and that did not show up tonight. It’s very important that we’re very realistic with ourselves and bottom line is we have to get right back to work. We have a tremendous game and tremendous opportunity next week. In the locker room, everybody feels it and everybody’s down. It’s hard and it sucks. We have to take it like grown men and lift each other up. We are what we have and we’re all that we have and that’s all that we need.”
On what was said in the locker room postgame…
“We like to keep that stuff in the locker room, but very direct. I think in moments like this, less is more. We had our opportunities, even though we didn’t play well. Obviously, we could’ve coached better. Could have made a better decision. All of those things were on the table and we just didn’t do it. Saturday is going to be here in a hurry against an excellent football team and we have to go on the road and we have to get it done. Very simple.”
