Mario Cristobal criticizes start following Miami first half vs Middle Tennessee

The Miami Hurricanes got off to an absolutely atrocious start against the MTSU Blue Raiders on Saturday afternoon and trailed 24-10 at halftime. The ‘Canes turned the football over three times, including two interceptions from quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (one of which was a pick-six.) It was a performance that Manny Navarro of The Athletic described on Twitter as “As flat and as uninspired a performance as I’ve ever seen from the Hurricanes.”

At halftime, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal took some time to speak with the ACC Network sideline reporter about his team’s performance and clearly he wasn’t pleased.

“Well, it couldn’t start any worse than what we did. With those turnovers and not scoring touchdowns. So, we gotta get back into execution. We’ve gotta do a better job with our mentality. We gotta do a better job with our resiliency,” Cristobal said.

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It’s far from the start Miami fans had hoped for and that’s putting it mildly. Van Dyke has looked out of sync with his receivers and the Hurricanes’ defense blew some coverages in certain areas that led to game-breaking plays for the MTSU Blue Raiders. Van Dyke only completed 12 of 24 passes for 108 passing yards in the first half, while tossing one touchdown and two interceptions. In his defense, he did have one touchdown catch dropped in the end zone.

Miami running back Henry Parrish, Jr. had the lone touchdown in the first half for the ‘Canes, a six-yard screen pass from Van Dyke that made the score, 24-10 with 1:20 remaining in the second quarter.

Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill is no stranger to upsetting Power Five opponents during his time there. He’s taken down the Maryland Terrapins twice (2008 and 2009). He has also defeated Georgia Tech (2012), Missouri (2016), and Syracuse (2017). We’ll have to see if he can pull of another upset on Saturday.