Mario Cristobal arguably suffered the worst loss of his career last Saturday. To take it on the chin to Middle Tennessee State while coaching your alma mater would be tough for any coach at a Power-Five program.
The manner in which they lost was most alarming.
The Canes committed three turnovers in the first quarter and struggled to find their way back into the game down 24-10 at halftime. Starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was pulled from the game in the second half, fans booed, players were injured, it was just a mess all around.
So how have Coach Cristobal’s teams responded in the past? Let’s take a look back.
In 2018 as Oregon's head coach, the Ducks suffered a loss to then 25th-ranked Washington State Cougars and followed that with a loss to unranked Arizona. Oregon would complete the rest of the season 4-1 as the Justin Herbert-led Ducks capped its season with a RedBox Bowl win over Michigan State. Oregon would finish 9-4 in Cristobal’s first full season as head coach in Eugene.
Miami seems destined to follow the same path in Cristobal’s first year as Miami’s head coach. He followed that first season with a 12-2 mark and a Rose Bowl win. The one major blemish from that season was a 31-28 loss to Arizona State. The Ducks gave up over 500 yards of offense and had inconsistent QB play in Herbert in that matchup with the Sun Devils. Sound familiar? Herbert went on to the pros after this year and is one of the most successful young quarterbacks in the NFL.
In the shortened COVID 2020 year, we can throw out a number of excuses but the fact is Cristobal suffered two heartwrenching back-to-back losses in that season losing to unranked Cal and Oregon State. The Ducks finished 4-3 and lost 34-17 to Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Last season, the major stumble was a 31-24 OT loss at Stanford. The Ducks finished 10-2 under Cristobal that season before the former Duck Head Coach flew back home to Miami.
With all that being said, Cristobal has shown a level of consistency for the most part to win games that his team is “suppose” to win. Prior to last Saturday, Cristobal has never lost to a Group-of-Five opponent in his previous stint.
Here’s how Oregon faired against Group-of-Five opponents under Cristobal:
58-24 over Bowling Green
35-22 over San Jose State
77-6 over Nevada
31-24 over Fresno State
The current feeling is foreign for Cristobal but there is a strong belief that this staff will get this turned around and based on history, this should be the lowest point of the Cristobal era.
Like most marriages, the first year is the toughest year, and Cristobal already referred to his work to make up at Miami as a 'monstrosity of a gap,' which was before he coached his first game in the orange and green.
The question is will the Miami faithful be patient?
