On Monday afternoon, Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal spoke with the media, recapping the 33-20 win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the upcoming game against Central Michigan.
Opening statements: First of all I want to thank all the Hurricanes family and friends and fans that showed up that was awesome. It was felt by our players, certainly appreciated by all. Great to see. And then for our team, a solid conference win on the road against a really good team. Played really well for the most part in two and a half quarters, and then found ourselves a little bit of an offensive lull. Up 31-7, a chance to get the ball back with a turnover, have a penalty that nullifies that, and Wake Forest scores once and twice. And then our defense just took over the game when our offense had four successive three-and-outs. So good example, complementary football, our defense forcing first a safety, then a turnover on downs, another turnover on downs, and then eventually an interception to seal the game. So some good stuff to build upon, some other stuff to improve upon, and moving forward and getting ready for Central Michigan. So questions, please.
On the status of Mark Fletcher and Malachi Toney: Everything looks favorable. Looks like just banged-up stuff.
On the depth of the wide receivers and running back room: Well, it's certainly things that you don't want to happen. Look around college football today. A lot of people are receiving some not the best news in the world, and we got hit by it. And we've been hit by it a little bit more this year than we have in really all the previous years. And so, you really always emphasize with your coaches, make sure that you're developing your entire room, right? Because you never know when they're going to get tapped on the shoulder and be called upon. So, certainly going to miss those guys. They are awesome. We have confidence that we can prepare and continue to develop the ones that are in that room to go earn the same status that these guys did themselves.
On Jordan Lyle's status: Yeah, well, he didn't play the first three weeks. He served his suspension, obviously doing some other things to go with that, but we have had him in training to make sure that at the end of the day player safety is at the forefront of everything. You have to keep guys in condition and engaged so that if there is an opportunity to come and play again, they're ready. And that is the case for Jordan, and he's in good shape and doing the right things so that he'll be able to contribute to the team.
On Jordan Lyle trust within the program: Well, first I want to say typically you only play players that you can trust. So that we're clear, at the University of Miami, there's one criteria for playing players, and that's playing people that give Miami the best chance to win. Period. Jordan has made a poor decision, and this will be the last time I address it, not in any way, shape, or form disrespectful to you, but just to make sure we understand clearly, he has done and is doing the things necessary to put himself in a good place with his teammates and our program. And he is a trusted football player and person who is working hard to make sure that he has the full trust of everybody.
On how he thought the offensive line did against Wake Forest: Tackles and center have been solid. Guards had some positive moments and some growing pain moments. They’re a very experienced front. They move a lot, a lot of bear fronts, NTs, TNs, twists inside, right. Some different blitz patterns and third down packages are pretty extensive, and on some plays we did some really good things at guard. Other plays, like I mentioned, had some growing pains.
On Central Michigan: Yeah, they get after it up front now, and they do it in every way possible: quarterback stretch, quarterback power, power read, quarterback counter, toss away, quarterback counter the other way. They really, a lot of ways to not only run the quarterback, but use him as a decoy and get the ball out on the perimeter. So it's one of those weeks where the level of eye discipline is critical to attain success because what they're doing, people are losing sight of the ball, and they're really schooled up well up front in terms of their combination blocks, their identifications. They don't miss, and therefore a lot of those plays, that quarterback or the running back, they're up the field four and five yards before the first defender shows up. So they execute at a really high level.
On The Young Offensive Line’s Continued Growth and Development Amid Injuries: Growth and development. Systematic work is just the repetitions, right, and making sure you're giving guys the opportunity, and guys that have earned those opportunities. And as long as guys are busting their butts, you got to find ways to continue to find not only encouragement, but positive wins in their routines and their dailies, and also create competition so that there's never a feeling where, okay, I got this. We are improving in some aspects. We're going to get better in the other ones. We're going to play some seasoned fronts, some really good front sevens, and the expectation is for us to get better and better, and more confident we will.
On what he saw from Darian Mensah: A lot of really positive play from him. He's really accurate, right, and he's a really good leader, and I think the best part about him is that there was no sign of contentment with the performance. He knows that we have to get better as a group, him as an individual, all of us. That's the only, the most important thing as the season goes on is that no one gets sensitive or moody, because we kind of go at it direct. We go right between the eyes. We feel it's the greatest form of respect that you can give a player or a coach: just let's get right to it, let's self-assess. Here's what we're doing good, here's what's not so good. Let's go get better, and Darian is all about that. He was raised the right way, and he's made of the right stuff. So again, he's looking for some continued great play from him.
Opening statements: First of all I want to thank all the Hurricanes family and friends and fans that showed up that was awesome. It was felt by our players, certainly appreciated by all. Great to see. And then for our team, a solid conference win on the road against a really good team. Played really well for the most part in two and a half quarters, and then found ourselves a little bit of an offensive lull. Up 31-7, a chance to get the ball back with a turnover, have a penalty that nullifies that, and Wake Forest scores once and twice. And then our defense just took over the game when our offense had four successive three-and-outs. So good example, complementary football, our defense forcing first a safety, then a turnover on downs, another turnover on downs, and then eventually an interception to seal the game. So some good stuff to build upon, some other stuff to improve upon, and moving forward and getting ready for Central Michigan. So questions, please.
On the status of Mark Fletcher and Malachi Toney: Everything looks favorable. Looks like just banged-up stuff.
On the depth of the wide receivers and running back room: Well, it's certainly things that you don't want to happen. Look around college football today. A lot of people are receiving some not the best news in the world, and we got hit by it. And we've been hit by it a little bit more this year than we have in really all the previous years. And so, you really always emphasize with your coaches, make sure that you're developing your entire room, right? Because you never know when they're going to get tapped on the shoulder and be called upon. So, certainly going to miss those guys. They are awesome. We have confidence that we can prepare and continue to develop the ones that are in that room to go earn the same status that these guys did themselves.
On Jordan Lyle's status: Yeah, well, he didn't play the first three weeks. He served his suspension, obviously doing some other things to go with that, but we have had him in training to make sure that at the end of the day player safety is at the forefront of everything. You have to keep guys in condition and engaged so that if there is an opportunity to come and play again, they're ready. And that is the case for Jordan, and he's in good shape and doing the right things so that he'll be able to contribute to the team.
On Jordan Lyle trust within the program: Well, first I want to say typically you only play players that you can trust. So that we're clear, at the University of Miami, there's one criteria for playing players, and that's playing people that give Miami the best chance to win. Period. Jordan has made a poor decision, and this will be the last time I address it, not in any way, shape, or form disrespectful to you, but just to make sure we understand clearly, he has done and is doing the things necessary to put himself in a good place with his teammates and our program. And he is a trusted football player and person who is working hard to make sure that he has the full trust of everybody.
On how he thought the offensive line did against Wake Forest: Tackles and center have been solid. Guards had some positive moments and some growing pain moments. They’re a very experienced front. They move a lot, a lot of bear fronts, NTs, TNs, twists inside, right. Some different blitz patterns and third down packages are pretty extensive, and on some plays we did some really good things at guard. Other plays, like I mentioned, had some growing pains.
On Central Michigan: Yeah, they get after it up front now, and they do it in every way possible: quarterback stretch, quarterback power, power read, quarterback counter, toss away, quarterback counter the other way. They really, a lot of ways to not only run the quarterback, but use him as a decoy and get the ball out on the perimeter. So it's one of those weeks where the level of eye discipline is critical to attain success because what they're doing, people are losing sight of the ball, and they're really schooled up well up front in terms of their combination blocks, their identifications. They don't miss, and therefore a lot of those plays, that quarterback or the running back, they're up the field four and five yards before the first defender shows up. So they execute at a really high level.
On The Young Offensive Line’s Continued Growth and Development Amid Injuries: Growth and development. Systematic work is just the repetitions, right, and making sure you're giving guys the opportunity, and guys that have earned those opportunities. And as long as guys are busting their butts, you got to find ways to continue to find not only encouragement, but positive wins in their routines and their dailies, and also create competition so that there's never a feeling where, okay, I got this. We are improving in some aspects. We're going to get better in the other ones. We're going to play some seasoned fronts, some really good front sevens, and the expectation is for us to get better and better, and more confident we will.
On what he saw from Darian Mensah: A lot of really positive play from him. He's really accurate, right, and he's a really good leader, and I think the best part about him is that there was no sign of contentment with the performance. He knows that we have to get better as a group, him as an individual, all of us. That's the only, the most important thing as the season goes on is that no one gets sensitive or moody, because we kind of go at it direct. We go right between the eyes. We feel it's the greatest form of respect that you can give a player or a coach: just let's get right to it, let's self-assess. Here's what we're doing good, here's what's not so good. Let's go get better, and Darian is all about that. He was raised the right way, and he's made of the right stuff. So again, he's looking for some continued great play from him.
