Mario Cristobal calls for consistency on third down vs Duke

The undefeated Miami Hurricanes trailed Duke 21-17 at halftime at home during Week 10.

After Miami jumped out to a 14-0 start to the afternoon, the Blue Devils rattled off three touchdowns across the final 18 minutes of the first half while Cam Ward and company couldn’t seem to find a rhythm in the second period.

Heading into the second half, ‘Canes head coach Mario Cristobal explained what went wrong offensively down the stretch for Miami during the second quarter — and how to improve it after halftime.

“Well, the first thing is that we’ve got to convert the ones out there for us,” Cristobal said on the ABC broadcast. “We’re dropping [passes] in critical situations, then we weren’t on the same page versus zone coverage, so we’ve got to get back on track there.”

The ‘Canes were 3 of 8 on third down to finish the first half. Meanwhile, Ward had 12 incompletions during the first half.

Still, Cam Ward finished the first half 12 of 24 for 138 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Isaiah Horton was his top receiver with five catches for 64 yards in the first half. Ward’s best play came during the first quarter on a 34-yard tipped touchdown pass to wideout Xavier Restrepo after Ward spun out of a collapsing pocket.

They were also active on the ground during the first two quarters, totaling 83 yards but have no touchdowns to show for the effort.

For Duke, quarterback Maalik Murphy has two touchdown passes and helped lead the Blue Devils to a touchdown in the final two minutes of the half, giving Duke its first lead of the afternoon.

If the Blue Devils can pull off the upset, the fallout will be felt throughout the ACC and College Football Playoff races. Miami doesn’t play another ranked team for the rest of the regular season and doesn’t have a win over one, either.

Duke is set to receive the second-half kickoff, and fans can follow the exciting finish to the ACC matchup live on ABC.