Mario Cristobal, the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, is widely regarded as one of the best in the country.
However, evidence continues to mount that suggests that this may not be the case.
Cristobal is an outstanding prospect, to be sure. He’s an excellent program developer. However, he struggled on game day at Oregon and has continued to do so since returning home to coach the Canes.
Everyone recalls Cristobal refusing to take a knee, which would have given Miami a victory over Georgia Tech. Instead, the Canes fumbled, and Tech scored 44 yards down the field with seconds remaining to win the game.
“There’s no way to justify it, Joe. “It was the wrong decision,” Cristobal later said. We should’ve kneeled, but we didn’t. We took the first step. There’s no way to rationalize it after that. It was simply the incorrect choice. We should have taken a knee and taken it away from the guys… The entire curriculum is built around accountability. We gave ourselves a fighting chance. It’s just a matter of making the decision to take a knee.”
Cristobal, on the other hand, outdid himself in Miami’s 31-24 Pinstripe Bowl loss to Rutgers on Thursday.
After falling behind 140-0 early in the game, the Canes battled back to take a 17-14 lead in the third quarter. However, late in the third quarter, Rutgers blocked a Miami punt and recovered it for a touchdown.
The Hurricanes had only nine players on the field at the time of the blocked punt. Cristobal, for some reason, failed to recognize this and called a timeout.
It turns out that blocking a punt is substantially easier when the punting team lacks the necessary number of blockers.
Cristobal’s misstep is simply the latest in a long string of coaching gaffes.
On the positive side, Rutgers defensive back Timmy Ward recovered the punt for a touchdown. Ward was an all-state player in high school before being diagnosed with lymphoma as a walk-on. He overcame the diagnosis, but as a senior, he tore his ACL.
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