UM’s Cristobal addresses ‘issues,’ says ‘no sacred cows,’ including TVD and coaches
Two days after his team’s loss at now-No. 10 North Carolina, and five days before Clemson comes to town, University of Miami football coach Mario Cristobal on Monday addressed Miami’s “issues” and some “brutally critical errors” that have contributed to the losses.
The game against the Tigers (4-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) is set for 8 p.m. Saturday and will be televised by the ACC Network. Miami (4-2, 0-2) opened Monday as a 2 1/2-point underdog. Clemson was off this past weekend.
Cristobal told WQAM’s Joe Rose that there are “no sacred cows’’ at UM, including quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, coaches and Hurricanes playing hard but making mistakes “at critical moments.”
The coach was also scheduled to address the media at his usual Monday-afternoon, on-campus news conference.
“You’d agree if this thing’s cleaner with everything else that everybody’s been talking about, there’s a good chance you have two wins at this point?” Rose asked Cristobal.
“Yeah, I see what you see,’’ Cristobal said. “There are some really good play that put us in position in games. And then there’s some brutally critical errors, at critical moments, that are very costly. And in the area of turnovers and penalties, football’s unforgiving when it comes to those two things. We had our issues and it’s on us to make sure we clean them up the right way.”
The Hurricanes have committed nine penalties the past two weeks, including five interceptions by Tyler Van Dyke. Van Dyke, who was 31 of 48 for a season-high 391 yards and four touchdowns at UNC, threw two interceptions Saturday, including the first one in the third quarter that led to a UNC touchdown. He was harrassed and hit constantly last game and was sacked a season-high three times.
Van Dyke is now 129 of 183 (70.5 percent) for 1,721 yards and 16 touchdowns, with six interceptions. He has been sacked six times. He still is ranked No. 10 nationally in passing efficiency (171.8), No. 8 in passing touchdowns (16) and No. 17 in passing yards per game (286.8) of 130 FBS quarterbacks.
‘Can’t make them gun shy’
“Yeah, well, you can’t make them gun shy,’’ Cristobal said of addressing Van Dyke’s recent issues. “He was a guy that let it rip. He did a good job. And he took a lot of shots. We were in a situation where we had to throw the ball a lot to really give ourselves a chance to win.
“It’s one he’d like to have back, you know, thought he could sneak it in there,’’ the coach said of Van Dyke’s third-quarter throw that was picked off by linebacker Cedric Gray and ultimately led to a touchdown.
Cristobal said he deals with Van Dyke the same way he deals with everybody else.
“There’s no sacred cows in the program,’’ Cristobal said. “You technically correct it, you find out exactly what he was seeing, what he was thinking. And you move on from there. But that one certainly wasn’t a matter of carelessness or not trying to maybe put it in there...’’
Van Dyke on Saturday that Gray “just made a good play.’’
“I tried to get it over him. I just gotta check it down to the back.’’
That ball was intended for Xavier Restrepo, who leads the team with 574 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 47 catches. Van Dyke at times makes it obvious he’s zoning in on Restrepo.
“Sometimes my reads just take me there,’’ the quarterback said. “It could be an option route when that’s my first read. Multiple situations it could be, but, yeah, they did a pretty good job of covering him and making it difficult for us.’’
Lance Guidry ‘error’
The Canes are 108th nationally in fewest penalty yards (423) and 109th in fewest penalties per game (7). On Saturday, defensive coordinator Lance Guidry was flagged by officials for unsportsmanlike conduct for running onto the field with just under three minutes left in the first half during a confusing situation in which UM coaches were trying to substitute players and called a timeout. The scene began with UNC at fourth-and-1 from the Canes’ 20-yard line. After the flag, the ball was moved to the Miami 11 and UNC scored three plays later to make it 14-14 late in the first half.
“The guy has been awesome and he made an error,’’ Cristobal said. “He made a mistake. The timeout already had been called. We were having discussions with the officials about sitting on the ball when they substitute. And it was all about that. But obviously, we can’t do that. There’s no excuse for that. He knows that and he obviously feels terrible about it.
“It’s no different than a player error. You’ve got to eat all those take accountability for it.’’
More Cristobal takes:
▪ On his philosophy of dealing with players regarding a recent abundance of fumbling at crucial times, including Henry Parrish’s on Saturday as he was approaching the goal line for a would-be touchdown with UM down 7-0:
“You get after it, and certainly don’t approach it kind and cuddly. That would be flat-out lying. The football is the most important thing. You got to secure it. ...You don’t try to make excuses for it, but you also don’t point a finger at it and blame and say, ‘It’s you, you, you.’ Because the bottom line is there’s gonna be another play, another series and you gotta go. These are guys we’re counting on and they’ve done a good job a lot of different ways.
“[But] you also got to get after their butts. There’s got to come a point where there’s got to be separation as to who takes over that running back room. It’s been by committee so far. And we’re gonna keep pushing the envelope on it.”
▪ On Clemson (30th nationally in rushing offense) and UM’s run defense, which came into the game ranked No. 1 (previously allowing 58.2 yards a game) and allowed 235 ground yards to UNC, 197 of them by Omarion Hampton:
“Yeah, they are one of the most talented teams in the country and they’re really big at running back. We have been playing the run really well. This is the first game where we didn’t perform to our standard. It starts up front, front end, the front seven, making sure we control the line of scrimmage. And be prepared for some of the things that got us this past game because you know how it is, if you show it on film in a negative way it’s going to show up again. People are going to use that against you.”
