Miami Hurricanes are no-shows in 45-3 home loss to FSU in the latest new low for Cristobal | Opinion
Mario Cristobal has won some big prizes on the recruiting trail lately, if we are doing the limbo to generously find the positive at the moment.
Saturday night did not help, if we are getting back to reality -- except to the degree potential recruits saw a Miami Hurricanes program needing help, suggesting good jobs available.
The night was just the right stage. A national network television audience in prime time. A sold-out crowd of 66,200 at Hard Rock Stadium. Two old rivals gnashing for the 67th time.
The night had everything but a competitive football game.
The night had everything but the home team bothering to show up.
Florida State Seminoles 45, Miami 3.
“The place was electric, and I have to apologize [to our fans],” Cristobal said. “I hate it for our people, I hate it for our players, I hate it for our fans. We’re building. There’s no excuse, no side=stepping it, no sugar-coating it. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
By the end of the third quarter most Canes fans had fled the building, leaving Noles fans to rub it in with their tomahawk-chop chant. Meanwhile Canes Twitter was blowing up with rampant references to Cristobal’s $80 million contract and the absence of immediate dividends.
It was UM’s worst home loss and second-worst defeat overall in the history of the rivalry. The offense has now gone nine straight quarters without a touchdown.
Cristobal, the struggling first-year Canes coach, has scored 2023 recruiting commitments from the No. 4 and No. 5-ranked players nationally in ESPN’s top 300. That’s big. It teases better days ahead.
Also, it helps distract from lousy days (and nights) at hand.
FSU became bowl-eligible with Saturday’s rout-win, the Noles 6-3 now.
Miami sank to 4-5, its bowl prospects wobbling badly with games left at Georgia Tech, at Clemson and vs. Pittsburgh. With the season thus far the indicator, a 5-7 finish looms likely, with 6-6 best-case..
The season has seen lows outnumbering good stuff for Miami, and Saturday was another low in what could have been the signature victory Cristobal’s Year 1 badly has lacked and needed, but did not come close.
These were two former national powers trying to get back to what they once were.
One of them provided evidence of progress.
The other was Miami.
This game never felt close even when, so briefly, it was.
FSU led 7-0 less than two minutes in on Jordan Travis’ 56-yard scoring pass to Ontaria Wilson -- and it displayed two reasons why Cristobal’s maiden season back home has disappointed.
First, the play only happened because a pass interference penalty against UM gave the Noles life after an incomplete third-down pass should have brought the punter on.
Second, the long pass has been a recurring problem for the Canes’ secondary. It was why Miami suffered that shocking loss to Middle Tennessee State, remember?
Canes countered with a season-long 49-yard field goal by Andy Borregales to make it 7-3.
But soon FSU was up 14-3 on a 2-yard scoring pass to D.J. Lundy -- again made possible by a UM penalty. Miami had an end-zone interception erased by a pass interference flag, giving the Noles first-and-goal.
Seminoles were pulling away 21-3 by early in the second quarter, on a drive made short by a bad UM punt and finished by Trey Benson’s 13-yard run.
By this time Canes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke had twice left the game with an evident reinjuring of his right (throwing) shoulder, which had kept him out of last week’s win at Virginia. He looked like a QB who probably ought not have played Saturday, if a rivalry game in prime time and UM’s season struggles had not fomented the desperation to have him out there.
Backup Jake Garcia’s interception led directly to a short Noles TD run to make it a 28-3 rout, energy and hope leaving the home crowd, self-destruction continuing as a theme of the night form Miami.
A 41-yard FSU field goal as the first half expired sent Miami to the locker room down 31-3 -- the Canes with a paltry 76 yards of total offense.
Miami seemed poised to finally end its touchdown drought late in the third quarter with first-and-goal at the FSU 2.
What could possibly go wrong. Right?
This: Third-string quarterback Jacurri Brown takes a sack, then loses a fumble, the ball squiring almost to midfield.
That was a second turnover by UM on top of all the penalties on a night of futility. This turnover led to another FSU score, Miami’s humiliation now at 38-3.
Oops, wait! Garcia just fumbled for turnover number three.
Will this game never end?
It’s pretty bad when you have so many great choices for the lowest low of a season.
Was it the stunning loss to Middle Tennessee State?
Was it the eight turnovers in the home loss to Duke?
Was it Saturday night’s home humiliation vs. your biggest rival?
I might say this one, although that could be recency bias on my part.
This story was originally published November 5, 2022 at 11:01 PM.
