Everything Mario Cristobal Said After Another Dominant Victory Against South Florida
Another dominant victory for the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes against South Florida and Mario Cristobal had a lot to say after a rough start to the game. The team finished strong as they pitched a shutout in the second half.
Opening Statement…
I am extremely proud of our guys for responding the way they did. In the first half, we exactly trailed for the first time this year. In the second half response, we played cleaner and better Miami Hurricanes football. Hats off to the defense. It was just a tremendous job of getting accustomed to the tempo. We can practice it all we want and we did. We ran two huddles and did everything we could to simulate them, but they are difficult. They are a good football team. They dial it up pretty well also and I think the night was epitomized by Meesh's interception and then the offense going right down the field for a touchdown. That is the brand of football we want to play and now we look forward to the next opportunity.
ON THE HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS...
We were getting lined up, but we just weren't getting him on the ground. A lot of missed tackles and we are typically a lot better on third down. I think they were 4-of-9 in the first half. I think some of their in-cuts hurt us in the first half and that came down to the coverage a little bit and our pressures and the pocket push was better. It caused more problems for their quarterback and we sacked him a few times on third down. We started playing our brand of football.
ON THE EFFORT OF THE DEFENSE DURING FIRST HALF…
That is what you get when you play this outfit. They are going to run a lot of snaps and they are going to get the ball back as well. If they want to make it a boat race, we are ok with that. We are comfortable with going back and forth and exchanging possessions and hopefully get more touchdowns than field goals and that is exactly what happened. I think the stop at the end of the half was huge and then coming out and scoring in the second half was huge. We don't play that offense all year. They go at a scorching pace and their quarterback is a great player and their coach dials it up. I think the defense played really well once we got adjusted.
ON ISAIAH HORTON AND DAMIEN MARTINEZ…
Cam Ward spreads the ball around really, really well. We had a lot of man coverage in the first half. It was snugged up, press-man, daring you to throw it and making sure you don't run it, so we are going to go to the things that coach Dawson and this staff dial up to beat man coverage and we are very successful at it. I know Cam is going to be upset because some of the throws he missed by a hair. That is the kind of guy he is. He is dynamic and continues to prove he is a game changer. Isaiah Horton continues to show true development and he is playing some great football. With Damien Martinez, we didn't run the ball early as much as we thought it would, but if you want to put them all in there, you have to defend outside and we are going to play football to a certain standard when people do that to us.
ON WHERE THE TEAM IS AT RIGHT NOW RELATIVE TO HIS EXPECTATIONS OF THE TEAM…
Well, it is about being 1-0 and that is where we are tonight. We are playing physical. Our line of scrimmage play is getting better. We kept Cam clean most of the night. I don't know if he had a sack. I know he had some pressures he had to spin out of and we stayed on blocks. I think the best part about everything is these guys like to work. There is a lot of talk about getting back and getting to bed and waking up and preparing for conference play. We had an opportunity to play against different opponents from different conferences and we were 1-0 every week. We got better and now it is conference play, which is a whole different animal. Nobody is content. We are excited about the progress. We are enthused and driven, but we just want to get back to work.
ON WHAT HE HAS LEARNED ABOUT THIS TEAM…
That they love to work and they are resilient. There is no penalty or injury or score situation that our guys can't overcome. Their belief is strong because of the work. They are restless as it relates to we just want to get better. There is no settling. They know we can be a really good team. They know there is some things to clean up. We just want to get to work.
ON THE RUNNING BACK ROOM PERFORMANCE…
It is competitive depth, which is awesome. Our guys have learned the hard truth about football. The best way to get the most out of people is to provide them with consistent competition and real competition. One that puts them on edge and on their toes and fighting for their jobs. When you do that, you push your own limits. I think that group epitomizes that.
ON MARKEL BELL AT LEFT TACKLE THE PAST FEW WEEKS….
He played an awesome game. He is a giant of a human being and his heart is just as big. Markel loves to work. From the day he got here, all he wanted to do is work. He is super grateful and super humble. He is full of gratitude. He is tough. He is physical. I love that guy. He is just getting started. Jalen [Rivers] missed this game and I think he will be back out here hopefully this week, but I am proud of Markel for the way he stepped in and I am proud of Samson [Okunlola] as well. He is going to be a really good player for us.
ON THE RUN DEFENSE AND CONTAINING BYRUM BROWN…
He is a really good player. They do a great job of finding soft spots in your defense and he is really hard to tackle. Nobody has tackled him effectively. He makes people miss. When you get hands on him, he runs through them. He is tough. That guy is an elite-level competitor. Hats off to the defense. They worked hard at defending tempo. As the game went on, we got more and more accustomed to his play and we got better. I just feel like the defense deserves a ton of credit.
ON HIS MESSAGE AT HALFTIME WITH CLEANING UP THE PENALTIES…
Stop all the bull crap. I think we were a little bit anxious. We knew this was going to be a physical game…That is not who we have been. It wasn't because of a want-to or because of an arrogance. We got off of what we are. We had to show it with the way we played and I am proud of the guys for taking that over in the locker room as leaders and putting our words into action in the second half. I am really proud of our team.
JUSTICE SANDLE