Rece Davis on Mario Cristobal mistake vs Georgia Tech: 'There is not much defense for what happened'

Come December, the Blunder of the Season Award will reside in Coral Gables. All Miami needed against Georgia Tech was to take a knee, secure a win, and move to 5-0 to begin the season. There would have been a huge opportunity ahead for Mario Cristobal too with an undefeated North Carolina next on the schedule.

Instead, there was a handoff, fumble, and quick Georgia Tech touchdown to pull off the upset. Truly an inexcusable play when there was literally no benefit to running a play other than victory formation.

ESPN’s Rece Davis says there is no way to defend what Miami did on Saturday. But it’s not exactly a first for Cristobal. Game management has been an issue over the years for him, dating back to his time at Oregon. Some of them, you can chalk up and find some kind of excuse.

This one? Not so much.

“He’s a very good coach and he’s an excellent recruiter,” Davis said during Monday’s episode of the Paul Finebaum Show. “There have been game management issues that have propped up over the years. Whether it was the game against Auburn a few years ago. I think he called a timeout before the first play. They didn’t drain the play clock and it gave Bo Nix a chance to beat them at the end.

“There was a game against Stanford in which you could question how he handled the game. Although, I think that was more of a debatable situation. But it’s not the first time game management has come up as an issue for him. This time, there is not much defense for what happened.”

Miami loses to Georgia Tech in astonishing fashion, Mario Cristobal explains

Miami got the ball back up three with just over five minutes remaining. The offense had done a nice job of killing the clock and putting the Hurricanes in a position to win. Three first downs were picked up and the game was as good as done.

The unthinkable then happened, with Don Chaney fumbling and Georgia Tech going 75 yards downfield in four plays to take a 23-20 lead with two seconds remaining. A mistake for the ages, potentially costing Miami significantly down the road.

Cristobal admitted Miami should have taken a knee during his postgame press conference, even if it took two different questions.

“When the drive started, it was going to be 1:57 and we burned about 1:27 off and then it was recalibrated,” Cristobal said. “Should’ve taken a timeout, right there at the end. After we got the first down and talk about two hands on the ball, but that’s not good enough. Just go and take knee. That’s it. Fumble the ball at the 25 and they 75 yards in two plays, so no excuse.”

A follow-up question was asked and Cristobal said “We should’ve taken a knee.”