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Mario Cristobal Game Week Press Conference | 3 PM | 11.25.24

πŸ“… Published on: 2024-11-25 21:03:33

⏱ Duration: 01:13:41 (4421 seconds)

πŸ‘€ Views: 5670 | πŸ‘ Likes: 186

πŸ“ Video Description:

Head coach Mario Cristobal, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and defensive coordinator Lance Guidry speak to the media about the upcoming matchup against Syracuse on November 30th.

πŸŽ™ Channel: Miami Hurricanes

🌍 Channel Country: United States

πŸ“‚ Tags:

Miami Hurricanes,The U,Hurricane Sports

πŸ•΅οΈβ€β™‚οΈ Transcript:

e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good afternoon guys appreciate you guys being here and um Again full uh Full Speed Ahead on preparation for Syracuse and our opportunity this weekend uh coming off you know a um solid performance against Wake Forest where we we felt that we uh took some really good steps from a defensive standpoint um running the football amongst other things and putting together a uh a really strong second half primarily in the fourth quarter and um we’re on it we’re on to the next one right now looking forward to to playing a really good football team that’s uh one of the top offenses in the country um I don’t think their defense gets enough credit they top three in our our conference from a past defense standpoint I don’t think their running back gets enough credit and I think their coach has done a really good job coach Bron has put together really good staff and put together some really good players and developing that roster so questions please you alluded to it but they are much more than just a quarterback people see the quarterback numbers I think they get very just CHS out off got a ton of dep of receiver tight end’s obviously very good running back like you said is a Le running back’s really good player I mean he’s a lot like we faced last week he’s he’s bigger he’s strong just a a one cut make you miss and go guys he does not go down easily he’s complimented by a very big offensive line uh really physical I know that we’re just studying their Interior right before coming in they get some good knockback some good push the line of scrimmage uh and they getting the ball out in space as well they use them in the screen game really well um you know and obviously they use number 19 you know we know him right local guy that so got a great history of playing High School football on here family history as well but they use Gatson in so many different ways uh 11 personnel and 12 Personnel um but he’s got great players beside him you know two’s a great player you know 82 is a great player seven five um I could go on and on and on so all in all they uh their success isn’t by accident they’re very efficient they are a team that plays really hard uh and in the dome I believe they’re 5- one so I defend home territory home turf really well so really good football team and because you’re playing in the D do you utilize the ipf more this week we we split time inside and outside um just like being on the grass I mean there’s nothing like playing and practicing on the grass you know just uh it’s just always it’s better on the body but we’ll we’ll use it you know and certainly it’ll be allowed and expecting a just a great college football atmosphere so all the the amenities that we use to prepare for those away trips for those uh for those Road games that have that type of an environment we’ll use it in the ipf but we also have ways to do that outside is there any of the games you guys have played this year that you can sort of look back to in terms of trying to prep for the offense you’re about to face this weekend well um they have there’s always some type of carryover uh they’re uniquely um they’re just different they’re different because of the Personnel they have and the way they use them I mean they uh they lead the country and contested catches in fact three other four wide receivers um are the top three contested catch receivers in the country so it’s not just a play design it’s really good players going up and high pointing the ball and making tough catches with just great body control um but they’ll get in loaded sets as well they can get big in a hurry and get you know 12 Personnel in there and a third tight end as well and get downhill in the running game behind some of their big offensive linemen so and they play complimentary football really well they’ shown the ability to to Really flip the field with their punter but also you know change U change the complexion of the game with their return game they’ve got some really good returners they use their better athletes um on all the return and all the specialty units as well so just a again really good football team did a good job this year of seeing what’s in front of you and not thinking big picture when the big picture is so first though no one what’s on the line of the opportunity to go to the AC title game does it change this week do you have to mention that is that on the mindset do you want guys to embrace the fact that a win puts you there well I think I think just the college football landscape has helped us with that cuz every week you watch somebody right focusing on the big picture and stumbling I mean it’s hard to when was the last time we’ve seen so many top 25 teams just week by week by week you know succumb to whatever be media pressure right program expectations or whatnot so it’s almost like a our process is has been really good for us so our guys believe it they regurgitate it they flat out speak it and live it before we even get to them and I think the probably the best way to put it is like our team like in our team meeting the clear understanding is this is not um this is Miami against Syracuse this is not cam Ward against K mcord this is not gadson’s records versus rreo record this is not a Keem mezor and Bane sack record against Fidel Diggs you know this is Miami against Syracuse in uh the most important game of the year you know so the one and0 process and mentality continues you didn’t have to I guess to be clear you don’t have to mention that it’s not something that’s discuss like hey what’s on the line is that something you don’t address the Players or um I’m not sure meaning you know this is a game where you win you’re in the AC championship game it’s it’s an opportunity that you guys have worked for all year long I would say that just uh the posturing of our words are very different you know just um we don’t talk much in ifs you know what I mean we address things more in absolutes like this is what we’re going to do this is how we’re going to do it this is how we’re going to approach it um like hypotheticals and and maybe and probablies are just uh are just not part of the dialect you know when we’re approaching you know a contest Mario uh recruiting calendar has kind of moved up this year end day being Bill next week which comes obviously right at the end of the regular season and ideally you guys will be playing for or preparing for another game next week how do you guys approached the earlier at least on the perod had you balance game prepping and recruiting well and and I’ll respectfully answer the question every y of focuses on playing Syracuse you know the other violent stuff you know how we go we don’t stop but there’s no talk about really anything else right now in the building while we do attend to all the responsibilities of of recruit and then I hope that answers it you know yeah I just you know and then with uh with Fran Brown you you’ve been in situation where you’re taking over a program um after you know some niy season he’s obviously had a lot of success at syc doing that this year just how difficult is it to come into a new program take it over and have that kind of success in your world yeah well I mean every every program has a different starting point it’s all relative to the starting point you know sometimes guys walk in a turn key operations and sometimes it’s man you know you have to uproot and destroy the foundation and lay a new one so it’s all different um in their case I’m not sure from a background standpoint all I know is that Coach Brown and his coaches have done a great job supplementing that roster with really really high level talent and they brought them together and using they’re doing schematically what really fits them and they’ve excelled you know and they’ve excelled and and certainly if you look at the scores of their games they uh they were in a position to win every single game that they played this year with respect to it is just about Syracuse this week don’t yell at me I’m going to take a second SP CU I’m want to ask you about recruiting as well just pra the earlier signing date right what does that do to assist teams instead of everything being compressed in toward the middle and end of December is that a game changer good or bad is it just cosmetic just that’s something they did just to make it look better I mean there’s always last second flips you know that are tied into every signing day I just I don’t know if they’re really last second does that make sense you know it’s like almost uh it’s like cramming for a test if you haven’t been doing what you’re supposed to do all along it’s probably not going to look exactly right you might get lucky you might you know hit a home run on it but I mean this is a recruiting is a marathon it is a Relentless every single day every second that you’re not game planning and working with your players and meeting with your players you have to spend on that you have to you know I mentioned earlier today I had a a chance on the radio to mention that uh I mean if if you if you can’t identify and recruit your value to a college football program is very little it just is and I’m talking about everybody in the building I mean from your people in development your people in recruiting um your people in academics I mean it’s always going to be about the people always and if and the identification process is even more important than the recruiting process right because you could recruit your your butt off if you recruit your butt off and bring in all the wrong ones you’re going to be in worse shape than ever so in other words it never stops you were you were part of the classic game up there in ’92 was what do you recall me 16 to 10 people look at the score nothing really happened that was a mil that game what what do you remember loud loud loud I remember getting to the team hotel and there was a contingent of fans that just you know they they made it uncomfortable for us upon arrival and I remember they had really good players they had a really good defensive end I remember not being able to hear uh and trying to look at the ball and trying to get off at the same time and block that absolute monster of a defensive end they had and I remember I believe it was Chris it was a Gedney getting tackled at the three yard line and time expiring that’s what I remember great game great football team physical um and uh yep got got all those all those crazy pictures man Mario deani Hill didn’t play last game everything okay with him he’s good he’s good rotation wise um there’s really I don’t think there’s any anything uh to it just it ended up being like it ended up being you know he’s a really good player he’s going to play for us you’ll see him this week I know you addressed this on Joe’s show this morning too but do you have any more clarity on whether some guys will be back well we have complete Clarity on Ryan Rodriguez you know he um he’s he’s there like he’s playing uh and then we’re right there with both deari and Elijah and I think we’ll have more clarity by tomorrow how do you think Mar c has handled the looks week the week he’s such a Focus for the opposing team on what he does how do you think he’s handled the changes different looks different things defense is giving him not giving that’s a good question see I think that you know even though it’s uh it’s not flashy and fun to look at or exciting this past week he handled those looks about his as well as you could handle them you know when people start playing I like to refer it as umbrella coverage right it’s they’re backing up and you’ve got a decision to make you have leverage for a throw but the guy’s kind of in no man’s land like in purgatory halfway in halfway out and he could play The Run and they might have a jam stunt tied to it so it could really you could whiff on the run if you if you hand it off and if you throw it you may have missed off on you may have missed on a big run so I think he did a great job in that cat Mouse game um I also think he did a great job checking us and putting us in protections that allowed him to be protected and get the ball off uh the one sack was an RPO where an alignment really it made it difficult that’s like a man it’s hard to even get to that kind of rep in practice end was really wide it was a backside of a gap scheme you really there’s no way the tackle could know he’s protecting that there’s no way for cam to really make an adjustment when he saw what he had to the boundary which I’m sure you guys saw the route concept over there so I guess that to answer your question he’s he’s really really done a great job and he is all about getting pushed and doing better what was the philosophy um was it just time and score on the squid was it something you just wanted to see in case you need it later what the though well we certainly didn’t have success on one of our earlier kickoffs and weren’t quite sure that we were um that we were ready to kick it deep again and that we were airtight and how we were going to do that um and then when you looked at it and we looked at it on the iPad and we felt like we could get there and we did on the next kickoff we certainly and it was the exact same scheme the exact same just about ball placement with more physicality and more disciplined by the safeties we really crowded we almost overlapped the front line when we covered it and if you do that with your safeties they have to be on point they have to be right they have to be perfect if not there’s no uh just the distribution of your tacklers and the leverages are off all a sudden there’s a giant hole and we didn’t leverage the ball you know in fact we let it spit and the contained guy was wasn’t physical enough and didn’t set the edge well enough and now all of a sudden you know they went so but uh we we’ve worked on it before we’ve done before not a ton we have a couple different ways to get to it we feel better about it now similar to the question about de I think I saw Tyler bar had only three snaps is he banged up or is rotation no not banged up that’s just the way the coaches chose to do the rotation and then um You’ talked about him on and off throughout the year but Dyan day um hasn’t played a ton on defense but he’s made some big plays on special teams forc to the fumble on the kickoff return um how is he progress during the season and how does that like exceling on special teams help in to the Future he’s going to be a great player he’s really close to being in that rotation like he is right there and we have confidence to play him now in the rotation or should his number be called his play on special teams has been nothing short of spectacular he’s been a game changer and I think we’ve all uh over the years at Miami we’ve all seen how great special teams players end up becoming great every down players and he’s on track to do that what’s it mean to you that you do have pass Dylan who not to compare years one and two to this but and I know you’re going to say it’s not fully buil but if a kid could play he played like you didn’t have the ability to hold you you didn’t have the sort of depth where kids who could play weren’t playing you had playing all what’s that say about where you are in the process of building that you do have that sort of depth now progress you know progress I would say it’s you know it’s it’s working its way there we’ like to develop more depth in the secondary you know at all spots you know excuse me but uh I do see uh a really bright future for I mean our young guys play a lot we play them in all different kinds of ways you guys saw Jordan Lyall really have a a day in lofton’s had his moments I mean I think by the end of this year you know if we take care of business I mean the um we should have more freshman all- Americans in the last two years and just about anybody um and that would be a testament to recruiting the right guys developing them the right way and then granting them the opportunities that they earned so um but I think uh Dylan days a great example of that and I do think that our depth is getting better overall how would you assess the def defense’s performance allowed you know just seven points you know after kind of struggling the Le PRI yeah not many I don’t think many defenses allowed seven points this past weekend and the first drive was certainly something that was not positive you know we blew the um the you know the C the sore route right where it’s they got to pass that off on the back and the safety takes a post and the corner fluffs off right uh so after that really the pick six turned things around I mean um we went over it this morning as a team because it’s important for the offense to know to you know the offense was kind of sputtering a little bit and all of a sudden for nine successive drives I believe four to five of them were three and outs uh two of them weree four and outs and um and another one I believe was a turnover or whatnot then the last Drive ended the game but nine straight possessions without a score three of those were on the plus side right one at our 30 yard line after the fumble uh two at the 40 something that’s that’s really really hard to do and I believe Wake Forest was averaging well over 20 points a game 24 to 28 points a game so um tremendous turnaround in communication alignment and assignment you know we leverag the ball well we communicated well and lined up and we played fast and we played free and um certainly a step towards what we want to be as defense when you have a kid like Jordan LA and the talent is oozing out of his his ears um what is your message to them about patience and and waiting their turn when they’re 19 and 20 well we tell them instead of waiting your turn make your turn you know uh take all that talent and approach it like a professional I think Jordan has and OJ has as well you know there’s a lot of guys that are young that probably have equal Talent or close to it the approach of those two Elijah Lofton um a guy like Francis minoa you know last year Ruben Bane they they kind of take an extra step they push it to another level level as it relates to just being mature you know so instead of telling them um to be patient we tell them make a way you know make it difficult on us you know play so well practice so well that you have to be played and this last week and a half that’s what Jordan ly did you know two weeks before that three weeks before that AJ did that as well you know so guys that are showing it they’re getting their opportunities follow on the defense question U just this week it’s a little different of the challenge quarterback I don’t know if there’s anyone in the country throw more than he does this season as a defense how do you approach that knowing that that’s that you’re going to be challenged early off and that’s kind of their game style and plan sure well the first thing is you know you’d hate to talk about game plan you know publicly as you prepare for them you but you really study the people that have had success against them right when you have accurate passers that have a good offensive line and and they get the ball out and have a good running back you know you can’t be uh you can’t be overly static right you have to be able to do things that make them get off of their schedule right get off of their blueprint a little bit and get them out of syn so when you study him as a pastor you realize that that this guy is K Mt is really really good at getting to his second and third read in the progression you start to realize that he keeps plays alive and extends plays by just having great pocket presence and moving around so you study all the things he does well and uh just try to find the things that you know have have given him some problems and you put it together um but you know I don’t know how to answer that question without just diving into you know what we’re going to do schematically but we just recognize the fact he’s a really good player couple more I would imagine I’m sorry I would imagine that because he’s a first year guy I do you have much of a relationship with Fran do you know him other than no we had a chance to meet at the at the media conferences or whatnot you know um we don’t really get much Social time and life period so um I don’t know how social we are as human beings with all the crazy responsibilities we have but he certainly has had a a really good track record uh developing his position groups and now as a head coach really or already he is up to eight wins in his first year seems like uh this might just be confirmation bias on my part that officials are calling OPI on those routs more frequently I know you guys have been D with him a couple times I’ve seen him a bunch in other games um I is it on I guess a receiver to not make sure they’re not looking like they’re running a pick or is it you know maybe rule needs to be changed a little bit or Al a little differ so what do you think about it you just can’t run into the guy you know you got to avoid it you got to avoid it it’s uh it’s really got to be part of the route to have contact and not be OPI it’s just too it’s too easy to execute a a pick play it is so I uh do you do you get frustrated with it of course you’d love for that to be a touchdown and not uh what it is but it’s going to be called it’s being called most of the time and so I think that’s going to always be a a difficult one I think for the most part um the conference has allowed people to play I there been some physical play and yanking and tugging on both sides and sometimes you’re going to end up on the great side and sometimes on the not so great side of that stuff so um it’s a that’s kind of where where we’re at at that you know I know the pre-ap St got to you Saturday it did but where are you overall with the discipline right now you pretty good with with the way the first 11 games we really practice the right things we work at it um The Players themselves preach it they do it those things were were absolute killers on Saturday they were you know we had two of those right we had we had had all year an alignment mistake right after running counter for I believe you know nine yards we’re going to have a first and or second and one down deep and all of a sudden we’re back and we end up throwing a pick on that on that particular drive so the two legal procedures the legal procedure in the holding knocked us back 15 yards before half which we end up kicking a field goal from the seven yard line right so there is some more real estate that we could have had um yeah that that discipline part is that’ll be the bridge between our ending up in field goals in the red zone and making those things touchdowns and that’s that was a big point of emphasis this morning uh in our meeting so got to have it man got to have it eat on Thanksgiving favorite thing to eat I don’t know I don’t know man I don’t know gosh um I’ll go with uh I’ll go with Padu there we go yeah I know you know we have practice and all that stuff and you know so it’ll be tough but we’ll make sure that the guys do have a good meal on Wednesday night and a little bit on Thursday and we’ll hop on a plane and get out there on Friday um and get a chance to uh get a chance to walk through the Dome and so they could see the new uh different kind of environment you know play ball guys you want to see snow are they going to see snow it sounds like it sounds like you from the bus to the building it sounds like you know believe it or not the the biggest like uh responsibility falls on the director of operations right cuz if there’s any potential weather issue he’s got a 360 180 this thing and say hey we’re leaving on Thursday night to avoid any weather issues you know but couple just they saying yeah yeah you know for us you know there’s there’s a million things going on and all kinds of noise and brother we’re focused on one thing and one thing only and that’s the way it needs to be and that’s the way we’re going to be so a little bit boring and I get it but that’s the way we’re going to be you know and I appreciate you guys and I hope you guys have a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you have your favorite foods and that a good answer e fire shanon um you guys have been so consistent offensively the whole year when you go through a lall like you went through the other day in the middle of the game is it kind of like a shock teeth I know because every you know it might be consistent seem consistent every game has those they do I mean the beauty of playing an early game sometimes is you get to watch football which a lot of times we don’t get to watch football and so when you have a game like that you watch football and you see two things are evident one is no game goes perfect there’s going to be EV blows a game highs lows all the rest and the other one is like games late in the year are hard to win if you watch games at this time of year typically every game at Halftime is tight almost every game is tight at halftime now the the G the team you know at the end of the game it is what it is but typically every game this time of year at halftime is really tight and that’s what you see and then the second half you know it’s either stays tight and you got to squeak out a win or you can pull away a little bit but halftime of every game that I watched this weekend I was like that gum like it’s a one-point game you know and so it’s just the way it is you can’t score 40 points in a play you know takes a it takes time and it takes like a team effort you know I mean thought defense did an unbelievable job like Saturday cuz when we did screw up right and gave him a short field defense stopped him and then when defense got a turnover or we got got a short field we scored and that’s how it kind of got out of the rut you know what I mean so every game has those it’s just it might not be as long but they do you know um it is a I should know this I don’t I’m sorry I assume you have some Dome experience I don’t know about the carrier don’t but it’s loud I can say that as an Upstate New Yorker it’s a loud loud what um the challenge of communication obviously now there’s new technology but that doesn’t always I know you guys conc working on the hand signal and all that every week just what is the challenge of going into a place it’s going to be it’s just I mean the challenge isn’t as much a challenge as just like we have things in place for games that we deem to be loud and we’ll just change the Cadence up you know we have multiple cadences we can go on obviously the majority of it is clap but if we like when we played Florida game one we went silent we thought that was going to be a loud environment it ended up not being too loud but it was like you know we could have and we’ll switch at times from like if we get into a game and it’s not what we thought it would be we can switch from one to another we can switch I mean cam has switched in between drives before you know so it’s whatever Cadence we deem appropriate for that game and then once we get into that game it it usually changes but sometimes it doesn’t you ever think think those terms that you kind of control the volume of what that building is going to be like cuz oh absolutely man if you want fan to be quiet than execute you know it’s simple but I’ve been I’ve been there twice I think it was twice and so it is loud and it is a little bit different you know I mean the the ceiling and everything and so um but it’s a good environment they do they play well at home people talk about their offense a ton for and for good reason defense is pretty good as well they get to the quarterback some athletes they’re pretty good on the perimeter just what what jumps off the sheet their their D line is is long and active you know they they get after it um number 10 I mean we played him last year right and so he can really get after the quarterback uh the the will linebacker number eight is as good as the linebacker as we faced this year in my opinion he’s really really instinctive um he’s always around the ball plays hard that’s what the one thing you see when you watch tape with those guys is they’re really emotional like they play hard you know and and so we got to match that obviously Shannon um Jordan M didn’t get a ton of snap or a ton of snaps during conference play for most of the games up until this past weekend where he got the most Inc conference play that he had uh did he show anything different in practice that that earned those snaps this week yeah I think he had a really good week of practice you know and I think that you know that room’s a talented room and so we’ve talked about that all year of you know splitting up reps and all the rest and we we just thought it was appropriate to to to get him some carries you know you and the thing about it is like you go into games and you have a certain plan of like reps you really you know you you’re going to try to do certain things and sometimes the game just doesn’t flow in a way that it works out you know I mean it’s just I’m just being honest like and so it doesn’t always go the way you think it’s going to go and so it’s not that the weeks my point with that is it’s not that the weeks before he had bad weeks of practice I mean he’s pretty consistent player right and so it was just good to to get him in there cuz he’s very talented and good to see him do a lot of good things when when the play of camw caliber pitches the ball and it ends in an interception from a scale of 1 to 10 what is your frustration and and what is your message to him when he comes to the side um my frustration is low I mean I you know I’m not a guy that overreacts to things like that I mean I understand that bad things are going to happen in games uh with the technology today I like to watch it you know to see and because ultimately your initial reaction to things isn’t as realistic as you think it is right and so a lot of times I try to just keep my comments to myself until I actually see it uh the first thing I do is ask him you know when he’s when he’s walking off the field I just I just ask him I was like what happened there you know and typically when he says what he says is is more accurate than the way I feel and so what he said was just I he said I I saw a Royer in my sight and he was moving and when I tossed it right after I toss it he stopped you know and that’s exactly what happened I mean you watch the tape and he’s moving it’s obviously a screen to him but the guy twist and kind of got in the window so cam moved to the left and when he moved to the left he had an opening he tossed it and Elijah saw a guy and stopped and the ball went to the defender and so I mean that that’s honestly one of those plays that are just like hey man bad things happen you know I mean they you know sometimes you just can’t control it and so you just move on really I mean it wasn’t really as an egregious play as I thought like when I saw it and then when I watched it and we all communicated it was just like you know he was just trying to flip it to him and he was open and he was moving and he stopped and then the ball went to them you know it’s unfortunate you hate it um but you know know in my opinion it’s more about how you respond to things like that than the actual crisis right and so I try to stay even kill and just take the information and deliver it and you know have a simple message and really what are we going to do next type deal you know you talked last week about uh the idea of maybe pressing too much against Georgia Tech how do you feel like it went against I it went much better so the the message through the week was we’re we’re going to have to be patient we got to take what they give I mean defenses right now aren’t playing Super aggressive against us in the back end right and so we don’t have a lot of just shots down the field like we actually hit jacobe on a post um we had him on a vertical we barely missed and we had Elijah down the middle um but for the most part like they’ve just they’re going to play over the top right and so you know the messaging was just staying patient taking what they give and we did for the most part I thought it was very methodical you know it wasn’t a it wasn’t a flashy game by any stretch but I kind of knew that going into it because of the way they played defense you know and their very the structure of their defense and they very disciplined in the way that they play right and so I knew we were going to have to take underneath stuff and run the ball effectively and throw off of runs and that’s what we did and then Cam’s you know pocket awareness and like feet in the pocket were as good as they were all year I mean there were multiple times that he got to the very last read to the running back from left all the way to right you know protection was awesome that’s a big part of that right and so I thought his awareness in the pocket was was really really good um and there was a handful of plays in the game that didn’t go our way but that’s probably always going to be the case right I mean you’re not going to execute 100% of them all perfect and so but for the most part we did play Within the plan and I thought the first drive was awesome that was really the first drive was kind of what we laid out you know it was a 6 and 1/2 minute drive and we just kind of marched it down the field and scored and then we were really in the low uh it was working the same way and just something would happen like we would we lined up wrong in a formation that took out a 10 yard gain and put us behind the change and then we threw the pick slightly after that the other one we’re moving and strep fumbles well strep don’t really ever fumble you know so our ball security needs to be better and so it was just like a little thing here and there I mean it’s it’s one yard it’s second and one and we run a tempo run play and we’re not all set so Cam’s got to make sure everybody set so it takes us back to Third and six they go cover two we got Elijah down the middle and the throw is a little off and we don’t hit it for a touchdown it was just like little things that were just kind of bogging us down a little bit going to play different do you feel like it was important for the offense to see hey we can still score 40 points if we when we have to take what the defense gives us I think absolutely you know I mean it’s a it’s a long game you know and I think that you know the way games go like I kind of like I mentioned earlier games are typically really tight at halftime even in you know look at the Duke game you know we we scored 50 that game we were down 17 at halftime I think you know what I mean there’s a reason why why you play the full four quarters right and so but it is you know the messaging and I and what I said earlier was the message in the cam is like you there is no 40 Point plays you know we got to you got to get to 40 it’s a process you know and it’s not always a a quick process sometimes it’s more of a marathon than a Sprint and sometimes it is a Sprint but like games games lay out different and the journey of navigating the game is is honestly part of the fun you know you I know the goal is one and0 every week and that’s all that matters completely understand that your side of the ball heard quite a bit of booom last year there was noise yeah the fact that you guys are ranked number one in like 83 different offensive categories nationally is that I know it’s it doesn’t matter but it does is that any sort of badge of honor for this team that um I don’t think so I mean I I don’t I don’t pay much attention to the noise I know people say that and some mean it and some don’t mean it I honestly don’t pay attention to the noise because I deal in reality and so the reality is this when I took over this offense they were 100 right so last year we were around 25 or 26 at the end of the year to me that’s a huge jump that was a lot of positive things right now did they have the right to boo at times absolutely I mean I my white was probably booing at times you know and so but but that’s fine they have every right to do that if you buy a ticket and you’re a fan then you have every right to boo you know I don’t feel good about certain things either you know but I do know that there’s a process to getting good at something it doesn’t happen overnight so I was very happy with the jump we made last year and maybe a lot of people weren’t and that’s fine like everybody can have their opinions of what happened but I was I was very excited that we took a leap I just want to keep going forward right what’s what’s more difficult 100 to 25 or 25 to one um I don’t know that’s a good question probably the first one to be honest with you because when you have guys that have banked reps at things and they kind of know how you approach weeks and years and stuff it gets a not about saying easier but when when people have more reps at something they get better at it and you coach people over time and they understand the the way the offense needs to lay out and so I do think the initial year is is the hardest cuz you’re you’re trying to get coaches to think a certain way too so you’re trying to get everybody kind of organizing on the same page mentally schematically and everything and that just takes a lot of time and energy and so um you you have a running back room with guys four guys really playing at an incredibly high level probably all capable of being say a number one running back anywhere uh how has that been holding together um you know no one’s going to have a thousand yard seasoned most likely uh then you have a freshman coming the other day looking yeah as good as anybody has in a Miami uniform in a long time like how’s that all holding together for you guys as a coaching staff I mean good right now I mean uh I think when you’re when you’re winning things hold together pretty tightly right and so but I do give those guys and the the people that coach them a lot of credit because you know they do seem genuinely happy for the guy that makes the play they really do now at the end of the day and at the end of the game you know do people go back in their room and and wish they had more or whatever I’m sure they do right I’m sure they do I mean that’s the natural response but but overall you know you can see them like doing little things for each other that is pretty unique and and I think it’s those guys are genuinely bonded together in a way that and we might not have a thousand yard rusher but we’re probably going to have you know over 2,000 you know so I mean it’s like the the collective group is is doing really well has offense exceeded your uh expectations I spoke with Xavier stle in July and he said you know we’re going to have the best office in the country in July have they exceeded your expectations I don’t know about exceeded I mean I knew we had this potential you know I mean you you never know how things are going to unfold obviously um but I knew I knew we had the potential potential to be good on offense because we’re solid we’re solid in every position group right I mean our old Line’s really solid our tight end room solid I mean we’re solid in every group so you know it on paper you you you feel good about it you know now you don’t always know how it’s going to go you know because there’s so many different variables that factor into success that you know sometimes it’s out of your control sometimes you got injuries and all the rest that can happen and so but I did feel good about what I saw on paper it seems like speaking of talented rooms we haven’t seen much of um the younger receivers here because that top four has been so good how have they progressed uh throughout the season man we got some talented guys in that group and you know and those guys are going to have their time at some point I don’t know when that point will be heck it might be Saturday you know um but I’m excited about the young guys I really am it’s just we’ve been in a lot of tight games you you know and and the the thing about this game is when when when the game’s on the line you want to experience guys out there that have made a lot of football plays you know and so it’s not a knock on any of those guys it’s just the natural progression of things within a team is is hey man I compete every day and I and I I compete in a way that when I get my opportunity I take full advantage of it you know and those guys are going to get that opportunity and they’re all going to be super successful here and it’s just right now it’s these guys time right and and they’re taking advantage of it and we’re trying to squeeze the juice out of them as much as possible anything else awesome thanks appreciate it guys e e e e you two two yards of play last night possessions you got you watch the film at his group coming up that’ll uh that that’ll do it um obviously there’s a quarterback we all know that but that’s far from the full story what what do you see as the biggest challenge with that group uh he knows where to go with the ball um PRI snap you know he’s really good he watches a lot of film you could tell that he anticipates things he’s got wide receivers that catch the balls when they’re contested the tight ends Elite you know he’s a lot like our guy really uh you really got to treat him as a wide receiver um they got big guys so uh they’re good at what they do they really are they play fast in that indoor facility they have so uh it’s going to be it’s going to be a tough challenge but uh we got to do a good job on the back end we got to get a good pass rush I know there’s a 24-hour rule that applies right around here it’s more 24 inter Ral it seems like sometimes but just how much did your group need just a really positive for I think they needed uh I think they needed a spark you know they needed confidence and um the first series had its moments of course um we gave up the score really disappointed some things we had worked on that we didn’t get accomplished in the second series they had it was driving down and then me made a huge play Pick six and then from that point went on we changed you know it’s like we were the defense from early in the season and it doesn’t matter who you’re playing always look at us and how we’re playing and you could see the spork and you could see the confidence and each series after that it kept building because we got put in some some pretty you know some spots that were tough you know and we didn’t blink which was awesome so credit to our guys being mentally tough I was proud of them how do you keep that spark ignited going through this week and heading into the Saturday uh just showing them what they did good them the why they did good and just building off of um just communication all the things we worked on in the open week and they’re going to be up against a different challenge this week coming up so uh it’s not going to be slow mesh it’s going to be fast pass so just from a schematic standpoint watching the game it it looked like you know you were back to being Lance again just the way you were calling that game and and and dialing things so had been L well a little different and and this game looked it looked like you know your aggressiv you look you can be aggressive when you can take advantage of things but when they can run on you it makes you certain way when they go fast it’s just I mean it’s a challenge each week you know it’s a different challenge you can’t do the same things you do against everybody It Don’t Fit if there was one defense you could run I’d run it every dang time but it’s not you know it’s it’s not that easy from the eye that you’re looking at it um our kids were back to playing with confidence and that’s what I saw and it’s easier to call when you play with confidence you know when you’re not playing well you keep grabbing at different things and you try to hold on to something so uh yeah so each week’s a different challenge L on the defensive you moved AEM mesor outside CJ Clark a little more in SES what went into that and what did you like about what you saw from mesidor has been playing hard all year you know and he’s had to play inside and uh we started play him a little bit outside but not a lot but we thought this week would be a good week for him to play outside and we put him at the Jet and when we put him at the Jack we moved Tyler to banide because we got uh Malik at the other so um mesidor played really outstanding which we knew he would we knew he would play hard and we got healthier inside you know with some guys CJ of course played well in there Marley played well we knew we had to sit moting out for a half and he get mten so we’re a little bit healthier inside what allowed us to play mesidor outside cuz we haven’t gotten Elijah Austin back in a while is part of that the challenge that Syracuse presents I mean now you game plan for Wake to be weake but was any part of the thinking this might be some of the stuff we have to do this coming week as well it’s different there I it’s not going to be slow mesh it’s different things you have to do cuz they’re a pass and attack I mean they will run the ball but you look at it and they’re a little bit more pass first before run they do have a good running back um so it’s just a different type of offense it’s a little bit more like Duke maybe not quite like Louisville but there’s some similarities between it but um but they’re good they’re good at what they do and the quarterback smart soach Chris had high press for you know Louisiana guy Dylan day that yeah um made some big plays on special teams City he’s almost there in that you know defensive secondary what are your thoughts on his progression uh he’s getting better he’s getting uh acclimated to the college game you really don’t ever know when a kids com out of high school how quick that is of course he’s a safety so it’s harder for safety mentally to play college football than is a corner a corner can rely on technique and speed and things like that but the safety can’t be out of position because he got to make a bunch of check so his role has been special teams mostly and you can see him getting better and better I mean he’s made I think special teams player of the week for us seemed like every week I don’t know if it was every week but it seems like it and he had a big play and uh he’s getting better and better and he’s going to be a good player in the future for us on defense for sure Syracuse is a team that is good on third down and aggressive with going for down does that change your Approach at all as a play caller with yeah where they at on the field is going to dictate you know how many Downs sometime you got to treat third down like second down because you know they’ll go for it on Fourth um I imagine they’ll go for a lot of things you know they have nothing to lose you know it’s their last game at senior night and we’ve got a lot to lose of course each week you got a lot to lose but it’s it’s one and0 you know from here on out and it’s playoff type football for us you know so I’m sure we’ll will get everything but the kitchen sink thrown at us but um you know we have to play with great eyes and just kind of go through the plays that affect us in the past and see if they come back up Mario said it’s he said it was close up until game time on deari Saturday he’s indicated that it’s might be a similar scenario this week your smile is getting I got my Mama saying some rosary beads right now she’s at home saying the rosary I might bring Mr Miyagi in with some miracle hand I don’t know man I when we get him back we get him back you know so uh he’s trying to get back though I do believe that and he’s getting closer and he look good on that field warm-ups just the look of him you know so it’s like walking through that candy store and your mama say you can’t get nothing but they got big old snicker bar you’d really like to have and mama says we ain’t got no money for it history that includes Mii n hopefully we get the mor back soon but uh we’ll take it day by day your quarterback had a game this year I think he threw three pick sixes and five interceptions or something like that have you CH had a chance to watch that film and and what did you see he threw a lot of picks against um pit and um pit was a little exotic on him you know they’re in a they run a lot of uh a lot of what we call Hot coverage where they’ll bring like six guys and then they just kind of all eyeball the quarterback and sometime there’s guys running free but they caught a couple picks like that and they match them around routs really well uh so he got off to like a bad start against him but pit had a lot to do with that they had a good scheme that day and uh you know sometimes like that sometimes you might be a little off you don’t read things quick um so it’s a film that we looked at of course we look at all the films and see you know what gave them the most problems and can we fit in what we do to some of that and some you can and some you can’t so um but pit got after him really good and they got up in the game and it affected the game of course how much do you think this group is just going to embrace just the Simplicity of this thing that we win we’re going to Charlotte I mean they that’s Miami teams love controlling their own destiny there’s a long history of going on the road and with an awful lot of I don’t want to say Swagger cuz Mario hates that word more than anything but there’s a lot of confidence in that situation how much will this team Embrace being able to know that it’s got everything in its hands it’s always good when you get to this point and everything’s you know in your hands you win you move on um so they know the task at hand I don’t think the task will be too big for them uh I think we’ll play well uh but Syracuse is one of those teams if they get hot on you you know they can make it one of those games I mean if you look at the comparison teams that we’ve played uh they beat Georgia Tech you know so we have to go up there and play really good we need to build off defensively we need to build off of what we did last week and offensively you know we need to play like we have been all year you know last week was just one of those games where it was our turn to step up you know in the game and we did and that’s why it’s called a team it’s it’s a football team so when you’re when you they need you to answer the Bell you have to answer the bell and it happened to be our turn and our kids did it so what was your um evaluation of Misha’s dance he can’t dance that’s said West Coast dance man nah I was I was just happy to scored I didn’t even see the dance I just saw it on Twitter I’m not going to lie to you so when’s the when’s the landscap Trav dance off uh we not going to have a dance off I’m too old to dance and then speaking of of seniors uh Kiko he’s had kind of an up and down year he’s had a lot you know his share of his tackles and stuff plays very good game last week no Miss tackles how can he you know as a senior have maybe come on stronger as the year approaches the the most important part of the year how big is that for him that’s good you know I think he’s getting healthier you know everybody forgets he come he’s coming off of laum surgery so when you trying to make tackles on college running backs I mean and you’re coming your arms not as strong as it was before and you keep building it up I mean that’s kind of what what’s been in this season you know cam kitchens was like that last year cam didn’t have the season that everybody thought he should but he had a concussion and he rolled his ankle real bad and was really never healthy you know thankfully that Kiko’s getting healthy at the end of the season so he had 12 solos and um just needs to keep playing like he’s been you know here lately so happy for him he’s a great kid and uh he’s got a bright future the way they throw the ball to the running backs is that unique a different challenge um no they they getting a lot of empty sets you know and they’ll swing him out of the back field and they’ll do different things uh but a lot of people get the ball to the running backs you know um we faced some scat backs before that have done that um you you just got to mix up things that you’re doing um to give them different looks but uh they’ll give you a lot of different wrinkles they’ll get in I mean they’ll have the tight end in and he’ll be flexed out like a wide receiver and you got to treat it like 10 Personnel you know sometimes they’ll get in 12 personnel and he’s out like a wide receiver and really it’s 11 personnel so he’s the hybrid guy um so you got to defend formations against them and they do a good job they know what they doing the quarterback’s smart so we have to mix up some things and play really good tackle well keep the ball in front of us and and challenge the ball in the air that’s what we got to do and he has a quarterback he can keep plays alive fact that your guys when you go one one one v1s more as generally can keep a play alive we’ve heard some things how much does pay playing against playing against cam how much get to tackle cam you know so it’s not like we get to practice athletic practice against Athletic quarterback and tackl him oh you see it but you don’t get tackl him is a whole different thing you didn’t see us when we play Virginia Tech that was a whole different animal right there but yeah you know cam keeps the ball alive what it does when you got a kid that you know a quarterback that can keep it alive you got to cover longer and that’s what Cam’s been able to you know give us so this guy’s a lot like that he’ll keep the Play Alive he’ll scramble to throw you know so he’s good at that and uh we need to keep the ball away from him so that’d be a good plan anything else we have uh ask Mario what’s what’s your favorite Thanksgiving food uh my wife’s not going to be here she’s going back home but before she’s Le she’s cooking the day for me cook turkey ham cornbread Dre we don’t eat stuffing we eat cornbread dressing we eat rice dressing uh potato salad green bean casserole stuffing tastes like Styrofoam to me so yeah dressing dressing is my favorite is there and obviously it is not in the bir conversation with one of our players about stuffing and dressing but anyway pH cor interesting compared to stuffing yeah was the player unaware of the greatness he he’s never eaten cornbread dressing you know he’s never eaten dressing so you cannot you know if if they don’t they don’t know they don’t know you know being from Louisana and you know what good food is so when somebody says oh coach try this seafood and I go so what you think I’m like it just it’s not it they don’t know they don’t know you know I’m not saying Louisiana’s the only food but it’s it’s high up there I’ve lived in a lot of States educate kids you got to live down there to know it’s like coach teach me how to cook gumbo I can’t teach you you don’t know how it’s supposed to taste so anyway thank you’all so much e e for


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