Head Coach Mario Cristobal addressed the media before its week six game against Clemson. He started with an opening statement on Monday:
"Getting right to work on Clemson. As we do so always reviewing the flim. Certainly, there’s some good effort on the field, some good plays, but the obvious is the self-inflicted wounds that hurt us pretty good, but the approach has been very honest and very basic in making sure that there is zero self-pity, zero blaming, zero negativity, just work. Working on the things, and finding ways to get better. That’s the only way, that's the only direction that we go as it relates to our team, and trying to attain progress. So Clemson obviously an excellent football team stacked with talent, very well-coached, championship-caliber program for a while now, and looking forward to this opportunity coming up on Saturday. So with that being said, questions.”
What he meant:
Miami has moved on from the loss to UNC, and full focus is on its upcoming matchup against Clemson. There was a good effort in last week's loss.
On making sure the two-game-losing-streak does not snowball into more losses:
“Sure, you do it with leadership at all levels. You do it at the coaching level, you do it with the best leaders on your team. You do it with honesty, you do it with transparency. I think you ever deviate from that, is when you create issues. I think what's very clear to us is, yeah, we made a lot of progress as a team, you know, offensively and defensively. The improvement statistically is staggering. It's really, really good. But we've made some really good plays and some critical moments, and we've hurt ourselves in some critical moments, and that's when I say that, I mean at all levels, you know? Because we take everything as players and as coaches, and that is very tangible, you know? That's something you could see on film, that some that you feel obviously when things are good and when you feel the consequences, so. I think whenever it's real, then moving forward is something that is, you know, it's never easy, but the challenge and the approach to it is very real.”
What he meant:
Being honest and transparent is how Cristobal believes the team will not fall into emotional despair. Statistically, there is improvement from last year, but there are self-inflicting moments as well. Pinpointing these areas will help to improve the football team.
On ball security:
“It’s a question that, you feel like you face that question every single year, and you almost feel like you always hear generic answer, right? You attack that everywhere you possibly can. You got to see it on film, first, how's it showing up? Second part, how do you simulate it in practice right? How do you get game speed going practice? So you got to practice really hard. How you get…whether it be the scout team, whether it be the defense, stripping at the ball, knocking it out given the type of looks you're going to feel on game day and then making it a legitimate competition where you got to hang on to the ball, to be able to show or display that you can do that in critical situations. And you got to work it to death, and then you got to make sure that on game day, that it shows up. So, it's an area that when I guess when I say that it's an area of emphasis, it might be the understatement of the year. We gotten the results early in the year that we wanted, we haven't in the last few, and all focus on working on it and getting it better.”
What he meant:
Miami is doing everything it can to improve turnovers by practicing hard and simulating game situations.
On if the turnovers were the breakdown in the third quarter:
“I think it was part of it, right? I mean, they went down the field and scored. You know, we had a bust, you know, down there in our area from a cover standpoint. We compounded the problem with turning the ball right back to them and giving them an opportunity to score again when we were moving the ball very effectively. In the last three times we touched the ball, three of the four times, we moved it well and scored, including the field goal before the half. When we got the ball we were moving it well, you know, we had an error, and it gave them the momentum back, and we found ourselves playing catch-up the entire time. That being said, when you watch film, the effort is good. It's good the whole way, you know, and to a point where at the end you have the ball, you're down by ten, but you know you, you fought yourself to a position where if you make a couple plays, you could be down by seven, you could be down by three. You give yourself a chance. Either way, it was never turned down, you know? The game was not..guys kept working, guys kept…that's what we're looking for on film. It’s what you look for all the time, especially in a game where you're not doing it well, because if you sense or if you see that, you know, you're not coaching to a high level or trying to find a way to win. If you're not playing as hard as you can to find a way to win, then that's a problem. That's where you got to make a change.”
What he meant:
Turnovers played a factor in the third-quarter collapse against UNC, but Cristobal was pleased with the effort from his players.
On what stood out about the run defense:
“Well, I think the tempo got us, you know, got to be honest with that. You saw that on tape. I think they run the ball really hard. They run it well. They blocked us well. They ran through some of our tackles well. We did not play the caliber of defense, especially rush defense, that we've been capable of showing that we have done. I want to give more credit to them than, you know. I don’t want to say anything negative about us. I just don't, you know, throw our guys under the bus. We got to coach it better. We got to do things to help ourselves out schematically when a team gets rolling like that. And certainly things that we have looked at, studied, and going to make improvements.”
What he meant:
The hi-tempo played a significant factor in stopping the run. North Carolina did a great job in execution, and the Miami coaches have to do a better job in playing to a higher standard.
On if alignment or conditioning was a factor in not being able to keep up with the up-tempo offense UNC presented:
“I think alignment-wise, we're in pretty good shape for the majority of it. You're going to get hit with some things sometimes you want to eliminate those completely. So that's number one. Number two, conditioning does play a factor, you know, so, that's where tempo can hurt you, obviously.”
What he meant:
Cristobal feels alignment-wise, Miami did well enough for the most part, and fatigue does play a factor.
On handling pressure against UNC:
“I think when you got to throw the ball that much, you're like in pure drop back. That mode, that's hard, you know? That's hard at any level. The NFL, college football, so, I don't have the totals in front of me of how many times their work, but these are obvious drawback situations where guys can pin their ears back, and so you're going to have some of that, you know? So it's…look, if we have to throw it 50 times because we're not…we got to do it. And I think everybody on the team and everyone on the staff understands that you're not going to all of a sudden not do that because you want to protect yourself statistically. That's not it. Your only chance we had of winning the game was throwing the ball like we did. We had some breakdowns, but we also did a really good job blocking some of their stunts, the pressures. They're good players that they have a high sack total, and for the most part, we did some really good things.”
What he meant:
Cristobal believes the O-Line did a good job considering that they had to pass-protect for the majority of the second half.
On the importance of establishing a run game against Clemson:
“It starts with that, right? The line of scrimmage, first and foremost. Finding numbers, angles, leverages that go with that. It's a little bit of everything, right? From the tight ends to the offensive line to what we designed to the running backs is making sure that we get on track and in establishing, you know, only the run game, but just getting in rhythm offensively, you know? You also have to make sure you're calling plays to give your players a chance, you know? The boxes stacked beyond what the numbers that you can block, and the leverages are not there. You may have to throw it around a little bit. So, but we certainly want to produce at a higher level in the run game.”
What he meant:
Miami has to impose its will at the line of scrimmage to be successful. Playcalling will play a significant part in how successful the running game will be.
On improving on conditioning:
“More players playing. More players capable of playing at a higher level, so you can rotate more guys in. We said early in the season that playing time is going to be earned. It just wasn't going to be a, you know, a birthright, where you go in just because you're the next guy. Well, you got to be able to earn that. If not, we got to move pieces around and put people in there that have earned the right to play. So that's first and foremost, we got to develop more guys. We're not going to use injuries or youth as any kind of excuse. You know, if you're wearing a ‘U’ on your helmet and on your jersey, you got to, we got to get you ready, and that's what the focus is on.”
What he meant:
Developing players to play at a high level is the way to combat a lack of conditioning.
On the level of concern of Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke playing against Clemson:
“Zero. Was he banged up in the game? He got banged up, you know? But is he tough? Absolutely. He's really tough. He wants to win. He’s ready to roll.”
What he meant:
Van Dyke is not injured and is a tough player. He will play Saturday against Clemson.
On the level of buy-in of the players:
“That’s a big part of the progress, probably the biggest part, right? The guys that when the care factor is high, and they've seen that they have made progress in so many areas, and it hurts that much when things aren't going our way, yeah, that's critically important. You can't have anything without that. And honestly, you can't bring people into the organization that aren't like that, and there was somebody had mentioned before people are easily broken or fold when things get tough. It's just it's the wrong business to be in, and certainly, as you're, you know, progressing as a program, it's the one thing you really got to stay away from. You got to stay away from weak-mindedness. You got to be resilient, and most importantly, you got to always stick together. I think that, unfortunately, you know, these young men are subjected to a lot of noise all over the place. But I don't…I can't recall ever, as a high school player, as a college player, ever, that being a part of any kind of progress. So lot of technical stuff going on here today, obviously, right? So it's like…it's never part of the equation; we don't ever let it. It’s never part of our teaching, our progression. So it should have never…it should never infiltrate, you know, our way of doing things.”
What he meant:
Buy-in is critically important for any football team. Players have to be emotionally tough. Negativity is never part of the equation.
On Clemson’s running backs:
“Fast, powerful, right? Guys are bullies, right? They do a great job. They do a great job upfront. So do their tight ends. Schematically, they present a lot of eye wash, a lot of challenges; they're physical, physical football team. Those are a lot of stacked classes of high-caliber talent, you know, coming together, and they do a really, really good job, you know? They're a couple plays away from being 6-0, you know? So, they present a lot of challenges, and again, we are looking forward to being at our best on Saturday.”
What he meant:
The Clemson running backs are physical runners and run misdirection to keep defenses off-balance. The team overall has much talent and could be undefeated if a couple of plays went their way. Miami is looking forward to the challenge.
On the injury status of Tyler Van Dyke:
“Well, Susan, I keep telling you I don’t talk about injuries. I just told one of our guys that he's ready to go. So, you have to write what you have to write, and next question, please.”
On the injury status of Mark Fletcher:
“He’s about a couple weeks away. Minimum…we're hopeful this week; I think you'll see him practicing this week. Doubtful for this week. Feel really good about the following week. Is he critical? Yeah, he’s critical for our operation. That’s a big, physical guy that’s fast and gets downhill. He’s making a lot of headway, and really, he helped change our run game a bunch while he was in there. He’s missed…for a lot of reasons…competition-wise number one. That always keeps the room on edge and on its toes, and he’s a really good football player, so, but again, you know, with the guys that we have, we're ready to ride with them. I think they've done a lot of good things, and we stick with our people, you know? I think the most important thing a coach can do when he gets in front of a microphone is to make sure that there is a, there's no chinks in the operation, and you know, finger pointing and all that other stuff, you know, we gotta get better. We've shown that we can do some really good things, and all the focus of the things we do have to be on that. So, while guys get hurt, and guys are missing time, it's important that we lead with the mindset of we cannot make that an excuse, and when they come back, they're welcome, can't wait to see him back and then we go from there.”
What he meant:
Fletcher could be back in the following week against Virginia. He is a big part of the Miami running game. Cristobal is pleased with the running back position and the competition in the room. He believes it is his responsibility to ensure that there isn't any internal turmoil.
On backup quarterbacks Emory Williams and Jacurri Brown:
“Doing well. Good football players. They got great futures here. If they have to play right now, we feel confident in both.”
On the offensive line play:
“Yeah, that's been a drastic, you know, area of improvement and the right kind of change because those guys, I mean, they know they know each other's next sentence, you know? They work really well together. We put a lot on them, you know? The second part of this game last week, we had to put a lot more on them than you want to put on any offensive line. But they handled it well. They're tough. You can coach them hard. There's no sensitivity there whatsoever. You can get after them, and they're flourishing, you know, in the system. Those guys all have great present, and they have a great future, you know? In college and beyond in the NFL.”
What he meant:
The offensive line is in sync, and all have the potential to be NFL players after their college careers. Much is put on their shoulders.
On the lack of production from the tight end position:
“Yeah, we've called their number a couple times, and they weren't targeted due to a pressure, or a coverage, or the ball was dictated to go somewhere else. But they are, they are a big part of our offense, it just hasn't shown yet. We feel confident it’ll show in the coming weeks. Elijah [Arroyo] is good to go, you know? He played a little bit. He is set to play more. He's 100% healthy, and excited, and fired up. And so, you'll be seeing a lot more Elijah Arroyo, and he looks as good as what he looked like before his injury.”
What he meant:
Miami is trying to get the tight ends involved; it just hasn't come to fruition as of yet. Arroyo should be heavily involved in the future.
On what Arroyo can do for the offense:
“Well, it just makes you that much more difficult to stop, you know? There's another area of the field, another position group, that you have to be aware of. Certainly puts a little more stress on the defense, as well. Can create some match-up opportunities for us and some issues for the opponents. So, in the run game, those guys have been extremely effective, you know, both them and then Elijah and his role as well, so. We feel very confident about that group now and going forward.”
What he meant:
Tight ends can create mismatch opportunities, and the position group should have a greater effect on the game going forward. The tight ends have been very effective despite not being used in the passing game.
On having extra time to prepare:
“We do, but we got back so late on Saturday; we had to get some of that time for those guys to catch up on rest and catch up on schoolwork. And so it ends up being the same amount of time, you know? So there's not really much of a difference for them. Gives them extra time for them to be over here, watch more film, some more nutritional opportunities, and whatnot. But the rest of the schedule is…once you start the season, the Sunday through Saturday is as is.”
What he meant:
There is not much change to the time schedule as the routine generally stays the same from week to week.
On being aggressive, but disciplined on defense:
“Well, I mean, that's..it's…it is a fine line, right? Between having a guy be a ballplayer, they've been playing football since they've been this big, right? And they can make your right sometimes when you're wrong, the wrong call, and they could turn a routine play into a great play. We have to focus on being really good at our routine plays. Does that make sense? Because our issues and our foul-ups on routine plays have hurt us. I don’t know if that makes sense. But if you look at the ones that end up really hurting us, it's those are routine, okay? And those are lapses that we have to fix. We have to coach better. We have to teach better. We have to create teaching progressions that correct that. That's what we do. And again, there's no shying away from that. There's no, there's really, there's no excuses. There's no finger point. There's no blame. There's no get down. That's not the way…that's not the way it's ever gonna work here. It's not, you know? It's a very honest and transparent and right at you approach because that's the best form of respect. Does that make sense? You know? So again, getting really, really good and air-tight on everyone, just doing their job always. That's the focal.”
What he meant:
"It's tough to contain a football player's natural instincts, but Miami needs to be better at making routine plays. Making routine plays is what has hurt Miami, and the Miami staff is doing its best to correct the errors.
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