Even after win, Miami knows fourth quarter vs. FSU is ‘not the way we finish’
Mario Cristobal liked what he saw from the Miami Hurricanes in their road win against the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday.
Well, at least the first 45 of minutes it.
“I would say three quarters of dominant football,” Cristobal said Monday, “and one quarter that wasn’t up to the standard.”
The Hurricanes dominated from the start and built a 25-point lead against their in-state rival in a ranked matchup but had to hold on for the eventual 28-22 win as FSU scored 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“That’s not the way we finish,” Cristobal said.
So what happened?
Miami, which moved up in the AP poll to No. 2 in the country after the win, led 28-3 going into the final frame behind a four-touchdown effort from Carson Beck — two apiece to Malachi Toney and CJ Daniels — and a stellar defensive performance, with UM holding an FSU TEAM that averaged 600 yards and 55 points per game entering Saturday to just three points and 216 yards of offense through 45 minutes.
But once the game shifted to the fourth quarter, Miami’s offense stagnated and its defense couldn’t get off the field.
UM mustered just 17 yards of offense on three fourth-quarter drives. It gave FSU just enough momentum to nearly pull off the comeback.
The Seminoles scored on each of their three drives in the final frame, with their up-tempo offense taking advantage of a Hurricanes defense that was getting gassed by the end of the game.
They got a short field with 13 minutes left after Dylan Day was called for targeting on a punt return. They needed just 2:56 to run 10 plays on their 47-yard touchdown drive, capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Castellanos to Lawayne McCoy with a successful two-point conversion. UM’s lead down to 28-11 with 10:04 to play.
Miami recovered the onside kick attempt, but the offense went three and out. A solid punt from Dylan Joyce pinned FSU to its 4-yard line. The Seminoles’ response? A methodical 19 play, 96-yard drive that only took 5:10 and ended with a 6-yard pass from Castellanos to Randy Pittman Jr. Another two-point conversion attempt cut Miami’s lead to 28-19 with 3:22 left.
The Hurricanes recovered another onside kick attempt and killed a good amount of clock before their decision to go for it on fourth-and-8 from the FSU 23 instead of attempt a 41-yard field goal backfired. UM turned the ball over on downs and the Seminoles needed just 52 seconds of game clock to kick a 35-yard field goal and make it a one-score game, 28-22, with 23 seconds left to play.
UM sealed the win by recovering a third consecutive onside kick attempt, but the way the game ended left behind a sour taste even in the win — Miami’s first at Tallahassee since 2019.
“Certainly something that our players immediately recognized after the game,” Cristobal said. “Of course, they’re always fired up about a win up there, but there was a certain sense of, ‘You know what? We’re better than that.’ ... We cannot allow ourselves as a program, me, as a coach, to not play the full 60 minutes and overtime if necessary. Can’t ever do that.”
It seems even more pertinent with the way the college football season has unfolded so far. Three of the top four teams in the preseason AP top 25 poll — Texas, Penn State and Clemson — are unranked. At least two ranked teams have been upset every week so far this season, creating a pretty open field for the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Miami is one of just 11 Power 4 conference teams left with a perfect record and the only team nationally with three ranked wins. They have played well enough to be among the nation’s elite.
They need to continue to do so. Avoiding collapses like the fourth quarter on Saturday will be paramount in doing so.
“A good lesson learned, some good deep diving into the film and the what’s, the hows and the whys to get better,” Cristobal said, “and we go from there.”
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