Here is everything coach Mario Cristobal said after the loss to the Louisville Cardinals:
Opening statement
Obviously a disappointing evening and outcome. At the end of the day, credit to them — certainly they played a good game — but we didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t execute well enough, and certainly came up short. Just not good enough. A lot of different aspects, certainly ourselves with some penalties. But really, again, our guys played with great effort all the way to the end. We gave ourselves a chance to tie it and win the game, but did not overcome all the issues that we caused ourselves — and again, it’s really good play by the opponent as well.
On the final offensive play of the game
Well, with over 30 seconds left and a couple of timeouts, we’re still at 48 yards out for the field goal. We’re still going to try to move the ball to make it closer and try to win the game, which is a regular process for us.
On what he saw in the team to put them in a position to tie or win at the end
A lot of effort. Resilience. All the good stuff, but not good enough to overcome the issues we caused ourselves, particularly in the area of penalties.
On Carson Beck's struggles
I think the one shot, the deep one, was a really good play by the field safety. At the end there, I think we’re trying to make a play and we didn’t execute it. Don’t put that all on him. We were trying to get the ball out to the flat quickly, and that play turned into another route that was not supposed to be that way, and it ended up being the final play of the game.
On the pressure that Louisville had throughout the night
That was something that they do. It’s something that we prepared for. They go seven up, and they’ll either drop into two, three, some type of cloud. They will stay in man coverage, they’ll bring four, they’ll bring five, they’ll bring six, or they’ll drop eight. We felt we had a safe throw on that, and we just didn’t execute.
On the lack of running game
We did not run the ball well. We need to do a better job at the line of scrimmage and give our guys a chance to make plays and move the sticks. We also got ourselves off schedule several times in terms of pre-snap penalties, and it changes your play calls. So, all in all, flat out not good enough. We have to score more points.
On the early defensive struggles and the way the unit bounced back
They came out with an opening script plus that’s really difficult to defend, and they got those 14 points in a hurry. I thought we had a good call on the fake field goal, and we should have made that play, but we didn’t. We have to coach it better so we can execute it better. I’m not blaming anyone for that. After those 14 points, I thought we settled down really well, got our cleats in the ground, and started playing really good defense. They’re a really good offense, a really good play-caller, but we’ve got to be able to move the sticks, put points on the board, help the defense as well, and put some points on the board. On the evening, we only had 59 plays. A lot of that is due to not sustaining drives. That’s not a good play-count for our offense.
Asked about how Louisville’s quick passing game limited Miami’s pass rush
The ball was out quick. Good game plan. We’ve got to be able to mix it up — bring pressure, play tight coverage, get some room, and then play the run. They’ve got a good running back and whatnot. Certainly, when you play a good play-caller like that, you have to do your best to keep him off-balance without hurting yourself. I think, for the most part, we did a lot of good things, but they got us with a couple as well.
Regarding the message to the team
The message is being very real and honest. That’s a really poor job of execution and discipline. That means all of us — everybody in the organization. Every coach, every player. We take it. We win together, we lose together. When we say execution, it falls on the players, it falls on the coaches, it falls on myself. After having some really good performances and really good practices, that’s really disappointing. We’re all ****ed, we’re all upset. Sitting around and being ****ed isn’t going to do anything about it. If you’re upset about a performance, you better get up and do something about it. It’s complete commitment from everybody. There’s no BS’ing, there’s no excuse-making, there’s no time to sit around and do anything but go back to work and get better. That’s what real men do. That’s what we have to do, and that’s what we’re going to do.
