Miami Hurricanes Football: Miami HC Mario Cristobal
Postgame Press Conference Transcripts: Virginia
Sat., Oct. 28, 2023
Hard Rock Stadium
Opening statement…
“Good evening, everybody. Thanks for hanging in here. Obviously, I’m proud of our guys for the win. A back-and-forth game, one that we didn’t start off very well in. And one that we just found a way to just make enough plays to take this thing into overtime and then find a way to win it. You know, like I told the players in there, football is football and I’m not going to waste a lot of time in the locker room talking about the things that we didn’t do well. I’m going to focus on the fact that we found a way to win and make sure that we congratulate each other because, obviously, we are going to get back to work tomorrow and do the things that we need to, to get better. That being said, credit to Virginia, they proved last week they have a good football team and we knew it. We talked about it. We just didn’t come out very good in the first half and they did some things schematically. Things weren’t clear, the pictures weren’t clear and then we were a little bit flat. Call it what it is, but just find a way and we did.”
On the message about Virginia throughout the week…
“The first thing is, the last five games I think have come down to a score, to one score. Last year, a couple of overtimes, three overtimes to be exact. And then the bottom line is, watch the tape. Watch the way they played against North Carolina. It wasn’t by accident. They didn’t beat them by accident, in fact, they fumbled the ball out the back of the endzone where they could’ve gone up by 10. They play really physical and they use tempo to their advantage. Wide zone really hit for them. They’ve got a really good feel for that play. Their quarterback, [Tony Muskett], is effective, he’s a leader, he understands the offense really well. He extends plays. He can run. We knew they had some really, really good players and they were playing really good football and they were going to be inspired. And we felt that we would too. We thought that we had a good week, but it did not show early. It’s on all of us. We didn’t coach well enough. We didn’t play well enough, but we found a way and that’s what’s most important. That’s the standard to win, so we found a way.”
On what the back-to-back overtime wins say about this team…
“I think what it shows is that there’s nothing we haven’t seen. I’m sure there’s a few things we haven’t seen, but you could hit that theme hard because at the end of the day, it’s about belief. Play the players that you trust, trust the players that you play. And I guess it comes down to the simplicity of, you know what, days like that, when you start off like that, it’s hard to explain, it’s hard to put a finger on. We practiced well. We did. We practiced hard. We thought, man we’re going to come out hitting on all cylinders and doing what we’ve done. But, I guess, the best way to put it is, our team by now should feel that there is not a situation that we can’t overcome. We’ve seen a lot of being down in the fourth quarter. We’ve seen ourselves turn the ball over. We’ve been in holes, we’ve been up and then behind. All of that stuff, it’s important. It’s difficult on the heart a little bit, but besides that, it’s really good for your football team to be able to respond the way they did, so we’re moving forward.”
On the reliability of Andy Borregales…
“It’s hard to find one like that. And the way he did it, too. It wasn’t like it was close either. He wants it. He wants those opportunities. And just as effective on his kick-offs. I mean, every single one is a touchback. There is a lot of confidence in him. We were willing to kick it 55 yards, maybe a little bit more if that was the situation. Probably 53, 54 that way and 56 this way. He’s awesome.”
On the play of Tyler Van Dyke…
“It wasn’t a good day. I think, the other games, yeah there were some throws he’d like to take back, but it’s also when you play come from behind football, you’re going to get some of that. Today was muddy. Today was muddy. Things weren’t as clear as they have been in the past. We’ve got to scheme it up better. We’ve got to coach better and we’ve got to play better. I don’t want to, in any way, shape or form, say anything but Tyler [Van Dyke] is our quarterback and he’s done a really good job in a lot of instances. Today wasn’t his best day and that happens sometimes. The defense stepped up. The run game stepped up. I’m sure everybody wanted and exciting game with 24 seconds on the clock but, from our own 25-yard line, we ain’t doing that. Not on a day where the field was muddy and hard to ready. We put it in the hands of the people that were moving some people around and a couple plays later, we’re in the end zone.”
On the Ajay Allen hurdle…
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Everybody fit their blocks really well. He came through clean. I think he was upset with himself because he broke free earlier and he felt…You know how it is when you’re a running back. You want to run behind your pads, but sometimes you’ll get too much momentum going forward, so he lost his balance and fell on what looked like to be a big run and he wasn’t going to let it happen again. I’m sure it’ll be the ESPN highlight and I’m sure he’ll put it on the cover of his phone and all that stuff. More than anything, I’m proud of him for how he has practiced and I’m proud of him for how he has performed in big moments last week and this week and certainly proud of Mark Fletcher Jr., coming back after a full week of missing action. You see how valuable he is and the importance of recruiting.”
On the importance of Mark Fletcher, Jr., in overtime…
“Complete trust. That entire running back crew, they’ve had their nicks and their bumps, more than that. Sometimes, it’s who wins the job that week, but other times, it’s some guys are banged up. They really are. They run hard and Mark Fletcher, Jr., runs really hard. He’s a really big dude. He has complete trust in the entire position.”
On what it means to be bowl eligible…
“Progress. Everything from our academics to our community service to how we conduct ourselves to our football team, our different systems, the caliber of human being, the way that we are around each other, the way that we are around other people, treating people with respect. And then valuing football and what it does for our community and what it does for our program. All that stuff is getting better. I’m going to say the same thing until I’m in the grave, progress and a long way to go.”
Miami Hurricanes Football: Virginia HC Tony Elliott
Postgame Press Conference Transcripts: Virginia
Sat., Oct. 28, 2023
Hard Rock Stadium
Opening Statement…
“…You know, I’m proud of them for making it through the game for us, versus a team like that I mean you are going to take points, alright, obviously you want to score touchdowns in the red zone but the biggest thing is coming up with points and I’m proud of the guys for that, but at the end of the day, they made one more play than we did. I got to do a better job of having my guys ready in that moment to make the play.”
On what he expected in overtime…
“You know, I think it was a back-and-forth game. I thought the defense did a good job overall holding up against their own, but when I saw them come out with full personnel, I figured they knew what they were playing for, alright…and the biggest thing is trying to score, make sure that you come away with points in that situation, especially when you know what you’re playing for so I anticipated. And the biggest thing is that we gave up too much on the first down and, with second short, you just had success, why not run the same play?…And we had an opportunity right there to get the ball carried on the ground at the end. At the end of the day, they got it in that particular moment and in that particular play. They gave all they could to get him on the ground.”
On analysis of the season so far…
“What I told this team, a down-to-earth football team, you know they care. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t show up and you think about kind of the world that they live in — especially after everything that happened last year, there were a lot of people that told them ‘Why would you? (alright) you don’t need to, you shouldn’t,’ and you start and you’re 0-5 and everybody’s probably telling you, ‘Why are you still playing, the season’s over,’ but they keep on scrapping, and they keep on getting better and they keep on improving, so I think that we learned a lot over the course of the season. We still got a ways to go, we are really, really proud of the guys and how they have played clean football. We didn’t catch any penalties, no penalties, we ran the ball effectively, and we just didn’t make the play at the end, we gave up too many plays and we took it with the sack that got us…I thought we were efficient and effective in the first down and we were able to play with a little bit of tempo that kept them off balance and, at the end of the day, the guys did really good.”
