Everything Miami's Head Coach Mario Cristobal Said After Upset Loss To Georgia Tech
The first loss of the season is the most difficult one especially when goals of being undefeated and winning a national championship are on the mind of the Miami Hurricanes.
Head coach Mario Cristobal took to the podium following the upset loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to talk about the issues the team faced:
Opening statement...
"Obviously disappointing. We didn't do a good enough job. We didn't play well enough, but we didn't coach good enough and credit to them for playing better and coaching better than we did. Story of the game, third down conversions, them being, 9 of 14 and us being 3 of 10 and being 1 for 4 and 4th down. Going into the game, we were the best at both offense and defense, third down conversions in the conference and were up there and today that did not show up, therefore we did not sustain drives and they did.
On third down conversions on offense..
"I think they did a good job playing coverage with some of our stuff and I think we failed at some routine plays and when I say that, I always emphasize that it falls on coaches and players equally, but we had some drops in critical situations. Coverage-wise, they mixed some things up, the bye week certainly granted them a couple of tells that I think helped them with some of the underneath stuff and they were keeping everything in front and sometimes you have just got to pound the ball away and make it just a slower, not as exciting game, but put points on the board and sustain drives, but we didn't do that. Credit to them, they just did a better job on third down and fourth down and we did."
On allowing 271 rushing yards...
"They did what they do. They did what they do. They run a counter. They run a power sweep. They run some split zone or whatnot. They run some wide zone. They got the ball off the edge several times and not only on sweep sometimes on outside zone. Some of it was bust, some of it was just playing really good. Sometimes was just getting an extra hat there and we got to make an adjustment to get one there. So it falls on absolutely all of us the way they ran the football."
On Haynes King being injured and Georgia Tech not passing a lot, but still able to run the ball well...
"Extremely, extremely disappointing. I think, as you can imagine, the entire locker room is really upset, down, disappointed and you have to own it. You can't sugarcoat if this or if that. We didn't do a good enough job and we knew it was going to be a great atmosphere. We had a pretty good feel for what to do and how to do it. We didn't do the routine stuff that we're good at doing did not show up. And then at the end, we surely had a chance with the ball to go and take the lead again, but we turned it over and they took control of the game."
On message to the team after the game...
"The reality of it, got to own it, got to own every bit of it, all of us. It's in this profession, when you take one on the chin like that, you've got to be a grown man, you got to own it. There's no finger pointing, there's no and by that I mean starting of course with myself and every coach on the staff and every player, you just own it. And you don't talk about it very much, you could just go do something about it. We have a bye week with everything in front of us to play for to do something about it and to make sure that as sick as everyone's feeling, that I hope we all feel sick to the point where it drives us to be better. Because certainly that was not our best football, nowhere near it."
On reasons why third down offense struggled..
"It's a slow place game, but I don't think that should be used as a reason to be out of rhythm. I think we got ourselves, for the most part, except for the long ones, and third and manageable, and we didn't get it done. The 4th-and-short, that's a play that we've been really getting fourth down, 4th-and-1, 4th-and-2 and turned the ball over to them. I believe it resulted in points as well. All the things that we've been doing good, we didn't do today, we didn't. And hence, on the flip side, they did really, really well, so just a lot of things were going on in the game."
On passing up a field goal opportunity in 2nd quarter and then chasing points later in the game with a 2-point conversion attempt later in the game...
"Two points, we're late in the third quarter and you want to be able to make it a game. That's exactly what the chart said and how we want to come back and be able to put ourselves in position to win. We don't second-guess that one at all. The 4th-and-3 early in the game we felt very confident about our fourth down package and felt that we had something there that we could not only have a first down on, but score on. We've been aggressive all year and that one we were aggressive today, but that one did not work out Have it I guess, you know, you like you mentioned all the things that you've done well all throughout the year Yeah, didn't really work out today. Is there is there maybe like an additional Mental frustrate an additional frustration.
On addressing the frustration that so many things they have done well all season not showing up today...
" With reality, I don't think you just don't sidestep it. The film is going to tell everything. I'm sure a lot of guys are already in the iPads watching that. I know every coach is. Yeah, it is frustrating. It really is. It's infuriating and with all that being said you have to own it. There's no deflecting. You get on that plane eat it. Let it really make you upset disappointed and driven and go to work. You never pay any attention to the outside stuff while you're doing well and can't pay attention to fall in that trap now when you take one on the chin. It's kind of buckle up. It's trying to be a grown-ass man and go to work. That's the bottom line. There's no magic and no way, shape or form are we going to make it feel a little bit less than what it does. It hurts. It stinks. It's a really really tough loss that we brought upon ourselves and now when I say that also credit to Georgia Tech, I don't disrespect other opponents when we lose a game, but we brought this upon ourselves and we're going to dig ourselves out by doing the things that we do well and getting better I have complete faith in this team everybody in it every coach on the staff. I remember the organization being hard on one another during a loss is is a must. You must demand the most of each other during difficult times and this is a difficult, difficult day that we have to handle and we will handle and we'll come together and shut out everything else and go to work."
On Cam Ward moving forward after a loss..
"I don't think he changes. He never has changed and I don't think the result of a game can shape it. If the result of a game shapes you, then you never were what you said you were. I have 100 percent belief in him and everybody on this team. That's the biggest point of emphasis. Again, it stinks, it absolutely stinks, but a hundred percent belief in everyone and we got to go back to work and get better."
On confidence in team responding to the loss...
"This loss needs to hurt everybody really badly, all of us in our gut, in our heart, in our gut, every ounce of our soul, it needs to hurt us, it does. And it needs to drive us, that's how we built this thing. That's the DNA of the program and that is what we trust and believe in. And we trust and believe in each other, so that's why we're going to get it done."
