Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal and player reaction post-Bethune Cookman

ANALYSIS: Miami makes short work of overmatched Bethune-Cookman in 70-13 blowout / Grading the Miami Hurricanes: Breaking down the Bethune-Cookman game

Don’t miss seeing for yourself what University of Miami coach Mario Cristobal and players were talking about after today’s game:

Opening Statement…

“Good evening, everybody. I appreciate you being here and sticking around. Obviously, the goal overall was to be 1-0 by 7:15 tonight and that was achieved. There were a lot of bright spots. Certainly, things showed up in a positive way in terms of physicality and conditioning and execution in particular on the offensive side of the ball. Overall, I thought we played relatively hard. Things that stand out that we have to work on that showed up in not such a positive way are a couple penalties that need to be avoided that we can’t waste. Tackling was up and down; we had some good moments and bad moments. But on third down, pass rush discipline, lanes and contain, things of that nature that allow for big plays to bust out the door are things that we have got to get better on. On first and goal, obviously we fumbled the ball there and that’s inexcusable. We went under center and that didn’t work out with a new center. I should’ve done a better job coaching that. There were a couple substitution errors. Aside from that, there was a lot of balance and big plays on both sies of the ball. We took control of the game early and I am really proud of the second and third team guys who went in there and executed at a high level and sustained the momentum to close out the football game. We’re 1-0 and there were some good things and some stuff to work on. We’re looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.”

On the number of players who saw action…

“The valuable part is the validation of, if you work hard enough and earn playing time, you are going to play at some point in time, whether you’ve earned first team reps or second and third team reps. And then, what is also validated is the fact that when they did get in there, they executed. You know, they moved the ball down the field and got after the quarterback on the other side and covered down pretty well. It’s positive and it’s progress and the best part about it is that we are going to get in there tomorrow and start really highlighting the things that aren’t good enough. You don’t want to feel your consequences, right? You want to learn your lessons along the way and film like this is a good opportunity.”

On the number of penalties in the game…

“You have to knock that out. Rules are rules. We don’t play football on our own terms. We play football on the rules terms. Kam Kinchens is a great human being, a great player and a great team leader. He was excited and caught up in the moment, but we have to conduct ourselves in a manner where we are used to doing that, where we expect to do that. And now, you know what we need to do? We need to get our teammates and the rest of that stadium rocking and fired up. The self-glorification stuff, he’s not that. He’s a really good guy. But you know what? It’s all about the teaching moments and that’s what we’re here for. We’ll learn and move forward.”

On the run game…

“The offensive line took control of the line of scrimmage and the backs ran hard. We got downhill in the form of power. We train these elements all day long and that was like a very nice day for us out there compared to what we’ve been practicing. I thought the line of scrimmage was handled very well by the offensive line. I don’t think they allowed any sacks and maybe one pressure and there’s plenty of leverage instances that we can work on to be a really good offensive line.”

On the quarterback play…

“They performed really well. I thought Jake [Garcia] played great and Tyler [Van Dyke] was exceptional. I mean both of these guys have proven once again that they play winning football.”

On getting his first win at Miami…

“Some people say things to sound cool during a press conference, but I don’t. The last thing on the world on my mind is me. I’m talking about the very last thing on my mind. When there is change, change is difficult and especially a blueprint like this which demands a lot. They’ve done a really good job of taking it on and they want to see the results as much as anyone else, but we need to stay process oriented. There were a couple times where we got a little whack – we had a substitution error, and we had a busted coverage on a touchdown. They broke containment but getting back to the process got us a little bit better and more towards what we wanted to do. In terms of me getting stuff out of the way, nah brother. I’m sure a lot of our guys would’ve liked to keep playing. They did a good job tonight.”

On takeaways from the game…

“I takeaway that we did what we had to do. We did what we planned. We executed at the level that we expected to execute against a team that we have a lot of respect for that has a lot of good players and that plays hard. But we also had a personnel advantage. When you play any opponent, you have to make sure that the complete and utter focus is on you. You have to do what you’re supposed to do. Both of those guys ran hard. We like to be a balanced offense and we want to score as many points as we possibly can, while having control of the game, which I think is really important. You have to play this thing as a team. Sometimes, you go light it up and go tempo and light that thing up for a bunch of points. And sometimes, you have to play to the strength of your team, which might be helping the defense out some. Today was a good example of having a balanced offense and just continuing to keep our foot on the gas.”

On personnel updates…

“Jacolby George is serving a two-game suspension, Isaiah Horton a one-game suspension and Jalen Harrell a two-game suspension. Jaylan Knighton, his was a soft-tissue injury. We expected him back and he was really close, but we chose not to because it was too close to feel good about it. Leonard Taylor was a stinger, but all indications in the locker room are that he is going to be good to go as is Jakai Clark.”

On the leadership of Tyler Van Dyke…

“The one word that stands out is ownership. He had ownership of the offense. He took ownership at the line of scrimmage and that transcends over to the sideline and the locker room. He’s just all-in-all a guy who continues to grow and lead this football team.”

On using WR Key’Shawn Smith as a returner…

“I mean he has excelled at it if you watch tape on different parts of his high school career. We spent a lot of time working on a couple of particular returns. But there are about three or four guys back there that have shown that they can hit and he’s one of those guys that when he goes, he just goes. It was a really good job by the kickoff return team and not to mention a very special mention to Andy [Borregales], because I believe he had nine or 10 touchbacks today and that makes things very different in terms of field position.”

BETHUNE HEAD COACH TERRY SIMS:

Opening statement…

“First off, I want to thank the University of Miami and the staff for having us down. [This is] a first-class operation and a good football team. We made some plays. I think they made the plays they were expecting to make and we left a lot of plays on the field. But that’s a first game, you know, first-game jitters and we had a lot of new guys in all three phases. And when you have that, you’re going to have some miscues here and there. I think our offense showed up. We sputtered a little bit here and there, but we showed them we have a high-powered offense. And with special teams, we just have to pick it up a little bit. We had some new guys and some young guys on the special teams; we will better. Defensively, we got to play better and we have to play better at the linebacker position, no question. That showed today with a lot of the missed tackles and missed alignments, and that allowed them to run the ball at will.”

On playing at Miami…

“We play them every other year. And I think it’s good for our program, for the reasons we do it. For our game speed, to get our team up to par. And it gives us a measuring stick for our football team. We play a team at the caliber of the University of Miami, a lot of great coaches, with lot of great athletes over there, you have no choice but to play at your best. Either you play or you fail. Our guys … fought and they played. If you look at it and the points that they scored, a lot of them were misused by us, taking nothing away from them, but I think it was good for us and we will continue to play teams like the University of Miami because I think it helps our football team down the road.”

On Jalon Jones’ play…

“Jalon played like we knew he could play. He’s been around a little bit and been a few places, but I think he found a home here. He’s leading our offense and the guys trust him. He’s a leader, he does everything he’s supposed to do in practice and meetings, and it showed today. I thought he had a solid performance today, but did he play up to his full potential? No. And I think that’s just due to his first game. And it’s been a while since he’s been in front of that type of competition and he will be better.”

On some of the biggest takeaways from this game and what he is looking for going into next week…

“I look at the explosive plays that we had offensively. I think that will help carry us through. We have to clean some things up, special teams-wise and defensively, but that will happen. We’ll get that done. The main takeaway is that our guys didn’t quit. They didn’t fold, they didn’t stop playing and that’s something they will always do and something that’s expected in this program.”

On the play of Dylaan Lee today…

“Dylaan Lee is a guy that you have to protect from himself. The way he played in this game today, he practices like that every day. He’s a solid guy and he’s your hardhat receiver. He comes to work every day and has no problem running any route and he plays inside and outside. He’s just a guy that when you look for a receiver, he is the prototype. He’s going to come to work, do the things that he needs to do to be better each and every play.”

On what the team does between now and its next game…

“We’re going to watch this tape tonight and clean it up tomorrow and get ready for South Carolina State. That’s always a tough game—and I get in trouble every year when I say this, but it’s a “bloodbath.” It’s a tough game, both teams are physical and were going to continue to be that way. But I’m looking forward to the matchup. It’s always a good game. They won last year and were looking to come out and [win] this game next Saturday.”

On the play of Devuntray Hampton…

“Hampton’s going to show up every day. He’s probably the team leader of the defense. He’s reckless and he’s going run around. He’s going to play coverage and he’s going to make tackles. He’s that guy that’s all over the field and he showed up today. He showed up, he ran the back end the way we needed him to. Again, we just had some miscues at our linebacker play a little bit and that allowed them to take advantage of them some things. But Hampton, I thought, played a solid game. And he’s another guy [who is] only going to get better as we go on this season.”