On one hand, the Miami Hurricanes were definitely in a trap spot in Week 6 with a huge AP Top 25 clash looming next week against an ACC foe, North Carolina. Of course, the other hand had the fact that they were welcoming Georgia Tech to town, a team that lost to lowly Bowling Green just last week. So really, there was no danger, right?
Wrong. And Miami head coach Mario Cristobal is taking a lot of heat because of it.
Make no mistake, the Canes put themselves in a bad spot. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke threw three interceptions on the night, limiting the offense and putting the defense in numerous bad spots. However, Miami survived all of that to have a 20-17 lead late in the fourth quarter. Moreover, they had the chance to kneel to run out the clock as the Yellow Jackets had no timeouts left.
Instead, Cristobal ran the ball. That worked out disastrously as Donald Chaney Jr. fumbled and the recovery was made by Georgia Tech. Haynes King then led the Jackets 74 yards in four plays, culminating in a 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Leary with just two seconds remaining, essentially securing the 23-20 upset win.
Mario Cristobal gets cooked for late-game blunder leading to Miami upset
Again, if Cristobal just had Van Dyke take a knee, the game was over. But Cristobal, for reasons that remain unclear, decided not to. As a result, the Miami head coach was in the crosshairs of Hurricanes fans and sensible college football fans at large, getting skewered for the boneheaded decision that cost his team the game and handed them their first loss of the 2023 season.
There is seriously no excuse for that decision from Cristobal. And you know what -- even he admitted that. When asked about it after the game, he admitted to the media that kneeling would've been the right call.
Hindsight might be 20/20 in some cases, but you could need coke-bottle lenses in your glasses to see that kneeling in the moment would run out the clock and win the game. Cristobal couldn't see that, however, and now Miami will likely drop out of the rankings and are now up against it for any hopes of playing for an ACC Championship.
What a complete and unmitigated disaster.
