Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal spoke to the media ahead of Miami's game against Stanford this Friday. Check out everything he had to say down below.
Opening statement: The excitement is awesome as we prepare for game one going out to play Stanford. We had a chance to watch them this past weekend. Really impressive outing by them, playing a really good Hawaii team, and really impressive in the manner that they, in such a short period of time, they put together and developed some really good football players and implemented what they want to schematically, which you see a lot of their NFL influence in the schemes that they run. Influences, of course, from their head coach and being at Washington and their coordinator's being with the Bills and some other teams or whatnot and the Seattle Seahawks. But what you saw was a team that was really playing with a lot of energy, playing with really a lot of physicality, toughness, finishing plays, resilience, and certainly closing out the game in impressive fashion. A team that has, I think, 19 out there 22 starters are either juniors or seniors, and they came out and did a tremendous job. Offensively they piled up 500 yards. Their quarterback's got to overcome a lot from a life standpoint as well as a football standpoint, and goes on and completes, I believe, 22 of 34 passes for about 300 yards, six red zone trips, 44% on third down, really impressive stuff. And their defense, I believe, overall by the end of the game, they had shut these guys— or held Hawaii to seven three-and-outs and, I believe, maybe 40 yards rushing total. So special teams played a big factor too: block punt for them, big return at the end of the game to set them up for their game-winning drive before they close it out with the strip, sack fumble and the return for a touchdown. So a lot of film, a lot of film and a lot of stuff, a lot of research we did in the summer that kind of adds up, comes together. They present a lot of challenges offensively: very tempos, multiple personnel groupings, sugar huddles, speed breaks, regular tempo, freeze cadence, all that stuff. Defensively, a phenomenal third down, very challenging third down package with overload rushes, nickel-dime personnel, the load up with the heavy guys when they're trying to play big as well.
On Stanford's NFL influence and veteran experience: This game had our attention since January. We knew that we were going to have an opportunity to put together our very best team against an excellent opponent, and watching them, you know, I think when you play a game, you always have the advantage. They played a game, and even though we saw some of stuff they do schematically, you can tell they have a very large menu. They still have more, and they've had you know an entire season of data and film on us. Tthe personnel screams at you. They've got big, long, talented, explosive wide receivers, big physical tight ends that can play in tight formations and open sets. Their offensive line is really impressive. They have enough, eight nine guys that can start just about anywhere. Very, very physical and they handle a lot, and I say that in the form of besides the very tempos, just schematically, you know, the different protections, the play actions, the shots that go with it, the empty stuff. That's a lot. And only really good veteran offensive lines could handle that stuff. And when you complement it with a quarterback that does what their's does, as well as the fact that off script he does an unbelievable job hitting receivers and making plays on the run. It's just a very impressive organization. They put it on tape game one, so we're looking forward to this opportunity.
On traveling across the country to play Stanford: You want to get your body and your mind acclimated, right? So your travel plans are very different. It resembles what we did in the postseason last year. You want to be able to practice out there. It's a night game. That's the biggest challenge out there a couple of years ago, right? I mean, let's call it what it is. Nine o'clock over there is twelve o'clock as to what we're accustomed to, right? Seven is ten, all that stuff. But we feel that our sports science department, along with strength and conditioning, nutrition, and then just experience in studying the NFL teams and, some other organizations on their records and their processes over the years traveling east to west, we've implemented that stuff. We feel strongly about it, and we put it into action.
On drawing Stanford first game: You never know, right? I mean, the bottom line is let's go play football, and we'll find out a lot about ourselves, right? But when you're planning this stuff, I think whether it was at the beginning or whether it was later in the season, you have to approach it in the same manner in terms of when you leave, how you do things, where you practice, what times you practice, reset your clock. So, but all focus is on making sure we do everything humanly possible to be 1-0.
On how Miami is handling potential distractions: If you analyze any schedule, any year, it has its challenges, right? And some pop up. Last year, how many times were delayed, forced to warm up? I think things always pop up, and they're only a big deal if you make a big deal of it as a staff. The academic side, credit to our administration, credit to our academic services. Jessica Lopez and her team-they're awesome. They got way ahead of this in the summer war. Our guys have been doing everything possible to make sure that we're in a good place when we leave and when we come back because we wanted to be very clear for everyone when we hop on that plane. All focus is on the University of Miami playing its best football against Stanford. It's kind of like distractions, right? They're distractions if you make them distractions. We've taken this as an opportunity to really challenge ourselves to do our very best on the field.
On keeping players “on edge” through position battles: It's going to be important all the time. It's important in practice. It's important in meetings. It's important in walkthroughs. We challenge these guys on a daily basis, by the minute, by the second basis. So I mean it's important that they play with their best effort, right? That they play as hard as they possibly can. That they communicate and that they perform up to the standard, which is expected of them, as is expected from the entire team. Like anybody else in our program, everybody's responsibility to do their job, mine included. And for them it'll be no different. In terms of who are going to walk out on the field and play first, we'll kind of hold off on that until it's time. I think this. I think when you have a lot of guys that are truly capable of starting and that can play winning football for you, and the battles are close, I think you keep those guys on edge all the time because it's the only way to get the best out of them, right? And that's going to be no different for a couple of other positions as well. I believe strongly in those guys showing up on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and absolutely just fighting with everything they have in them to earn a role, playing time, starting position, whatever it may be. I think that when they come here, and that when they're recruited by us, they know to expect that, and we feel strongly about that.
On Ahmad Moten and Justin Scott: I expect them to play the best of their abilities. They've made a ton of progress. They're talented guys. The best part about them is they allow themselves to be pushed and taken to the edge, always looking for that breakthrough that we talk about. And I expect them to do nothing but play up to the very best that they possibly can without comparing them to anybody. I don't think it's fair to the former players or to the current players to draw comparisons. Every team is authentic in its own way, right? And every team has to go out and earn, right, their position on the college football landscape, and that's how, you know, this team will be judged at the end of the year, right? Right now, every single bit of what we do is focused on making sure we go out there and that we earn everything on a play-by-play basis.
On the expectations heading into the season for Mark Fletcher: It's more of Mark Fletcher himself. He has his expectations for himself are higher than any outside expectations, and our expectations for him would be no different than we have for any other players. We expect nothing but his absolute best.
Opening statement: The excitement is awesome as we prepare for game one going out to play Stanford. We had a chance to watch them this past weekend. Really impressive outing by them, playing a really good Hawaii team, and really impressive in the manner that they, in such a short period of time, they put together and developed some really good football players and implemented what they want to schematically, which you see a lot of their NFL influence in the schemes that they run. Influences, of course, from their head coach and being at Washington and their coordinator's being with the Bills and some other teams or whatnot and the Seattle Seahawks. But what you saw was a team that was really playing with a lot of energy, playing with really a lot of physicality, toughness, finishing plays, resilience, and certainly closing out the game in impressive fashion. A team that has, I think, 19 out there 22 starters are either juniors or seniors, and they came out and did a tremendous job. Offensively they piled up 500 yards. Their quarterback's got to overcome a lot from a life standpoint as well as a football standpoint, and goes on and completes, I believe, 22 of 34 passes for about 300 yards, six red zone trips, 44% on third down, really impressive stuff. And their defense, I believe, overall by the end of the game, they had shut these guys— or held Hawaii to seven three-and-outs and, I believe, maybe 40 yards rushing total. So special teams played a big factor too: block punt for them, big return at the end of the game to set them up for their game-winning drive before they close it out with the strip, sack fumble and the return for a touchdown. So a lot of film, a lot of film and a lot of stuff, a lot of research we did in the summer that kind of adds up, comes together. They present a lot of challenges offensively: very tempos, multiple personnel groupings, sugar huddles, speed breaks, regular tempo, freeze cadence, all that stuff. Defensively, a phenomenal third down, very challenging third down package with overload rushes, nickel-dime personnel, the load up with the heavy guys when they're trying to play big as well.
On Stanford's NFL influence and veteran experience: This game had our attention since January. We knew that we were going to have an opportunity to put together our very best team against an excellent opponent, and watching them, you know, I think when you play a game, you always have the advantage. They played a game, and even though we saw some of stuff they do schematically, you can tell they have a very large menu. They still have more, and they've had you know an entire season of data and film on us. Tthe personnel screams at you. They've got big, long, talented, explosive wide receivers, big physical tight ends that can play in tight formations and open sets. Their offensive line is really impressive. They have enough, eight nine guys that can start just about anywhere. Very, very physical and they handle a lot, and I say that in the form of besides the very tempos, just schematically, you know, the different protections, the play actions, the shots that go with it, the empty stuff. That's a lot. And only really good veteran offensive lines could handle that stuff. And when you complement it with a quarterback that does what their's does, as well as the fact that off script he does an unbelievable job hitting receivers and making plays on the run. It's just a very impressive organization. They put it on tape game one, so we're looking forward to this opportunity.
On traveling across the country to play Stanford: You want to get your body and your mind acclimated, right? So your travel plans are very different. It resembles what we did in the postseason last year. You want to be able to practice out there. It's a night game. That's the biggest challenge out there a couple of years ago, right? I mean, let's call it what it is. Nine o'clock over there is twelve o'clock as to what we're accustomed to, right? Seven is ten, all that stuff. But we feel that our sports science department, along with strength and conditioning, nutrition, and then just experience in studying the NFL teams and, some other organizations on their records and their processes over the years traveling east to west, we've implemented that stuff. We feel strongly about it, and we put it into action.
On drawing Stanford first game: You never know, right? I mean, the bottom line is let's go play football, and we'll find out a lot about ourselves, right? But when you're planning this stuff, I think whether it was at the beginning or whether it was later in the season, you have to approach it in the same manner in terms of when you leave, how you do things, where you practice, what times you practice, reset your clock. So, but all focus is on making sure we do everything humanly possible to be 1-0.
On how Miami is handling potential distractions: If you analyze any schedule, any year, it has its challenges, right? And some pop up. Last year, how many times were delayed, forced to warm up? I think things always pop up, and they're only a big deal if you make a big deal of it as a staff. The academic side, credit to our administration, credit to our academic services. Jessica Lopez and her team-they're awesome. They got way ahead of this in the summer war. Our guys have been doing everything possible to make sure that we're in a good place when we leave and when we come back because we wanted to be very clear for everyone when we hop on that plane. All focus is on the University of Miami playing its best football against Stanford. It's kind of like distractions, right? They're distractions if you make them distractions. We've taken this as an opportunity to really challenge ourselves to do our very best on the field.
On keeping players “on edge” through position battles: It's going to be important all the time. It's important in practice. It's important in meetings. It's important in walkthroughs. We challenge these guys on a daily basis, by the minute, by the second basis. So I mean it's important that they play with their best effort, right? That they play as hard as they possibly can. That they communicate and that they perform up to the standard, which is expected of them, as is expected from the entire team. Like anybody else in our program, everybody's responsibility to do their job, mine included. And for them it'll be no different. In terms of who are going to walk out on the field and play first, we'll kind of hold off on that until it's time. I think this. I think when you have a lot of guys that are truly capable of starting and that can play winning football for you, and the battles are close, I think you keep those guys on edge all the time because it's the only way to get the best out of them, right? And that's going to be no different for a couple of other positions as well. I believe strongly in those guys showing up on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and absolutely just fighting with everything they have in them to earn a role, playing time, starting position, whatever it may be. I think that when they come here, and that when they're recruited by us, they know to expect that, and we feel strongly about that.
On Ahmad Moten and Justin Scott: I expect them to play the best of their abilities. They've made a ton of progress. They're talented guys. The best part about them is they allow themselves to be pushed and taken to the edge, always looking for that breakthrough that we talk about. And I expect them to do nothing but play up to the very best that they possibly can without comparing them to anybody. I don't think it's fair to the former players or to the current players to draw comparisons. Every team is authentic in its own way, right? And every team has to go out and earn, right, their position on the college football landscape, and that's how, you know, this team will be judged at the end of the year, right? Right now, every single bit of what we do is focused on making sure we go out there and that we earn everything on a play-by-play basis.
On the expectations heading into the season for Mark Fletcher: It's more of Mark Fletcher himself. He has his expectations for himself are higher than any outside expectations, and our expectations for him would be no different than we have for any other players. We expect nothing but his absolute best.
