Mario Cristobal addresses Miami's slow starts, how to avoid them

After a 2-0 start, Miami has lost their last three games, most recently falling in their first conference game to North Carolina at home 27-24, dropping them to 2-3 on the season. One factor that has impacted their recent losses has been their slow starts on both sides of the ball, and head coach Mario Cristobal was asked what has been the reason for their sluggish performance to begin games.

“You always want to figure that out, I wish it came bottled up and you can just pour it out and you know what you’re gonna get,” Cristobal said.

Cristobal may not find that bottle any time soon, but does believe that the mental aspect of the game can be what’s impacting his team’s performance at the beginning of games.

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“So you work on everything, you want to make sure your team is revved up mentally locked in but not anxious right?” Cristobal asked. “Anxiety is the killer of performance, peak performance for that matter, so we really do spend a lot of time on mental preparation on the psychological side of it.”

In the first quarter of their last three games, the Hurricanes have been outscored 34-6 by opponents, putting them in the position to play catch-up in each of those matchups. As they work to combat this struggle from the mental side of things, Cristobal also explained how their opponents may have gotten a leg up on them to start games, forcing them to adjust as quickly as possible.

“We feel that in so many ways we’ve improved the resiliency of our football team, but some of the things that come with a slow start, sometimes it’s formational,” Cristobal said. “I mean every single time you play a team there’s gonna be a wrinkle, there’s going to be a new adjustment that may take you a play, a series, hopefully not much longer than that but sometimes it does take a quarter and a half to get adjusted and play at the level you’re capable of.”

Cristobal elaborated more on how they combat early adversity and adjustments during the game, as well as outside of the white lines.

“So we immediately get them to the sideline, settle them down, settle down those eyes, those nerves, and we think the best way always to do that is to get right back to focus, to technique, to fundamentals, and to assignment, cut out all the other stuff. Don’t let the mind drift, social media ain’t part of this, this is football and everything you do on the field’s gonna make the difference,” Cristobal said.

Hopefully for the Hurricanes, Cristobal can find a way to get his team off to a faster start both mentally and physically, as they take on Virginia Tech this weekend in their first conference road test of the year in ruckus Lane Stadium.