Miami Coach Mario Cristobal Has An Explanation For Declining To Kneel

When faced with the option of kneeling the down and running out the time in what would have been a victory for No. 17 Miami, coach Mario Cristobal chose to run the ball on third-and-10 from the Georgia Tech 30-yard line, costing the Hurricanes the game.

Miami Coach Mario Cristobal Has An Explanation For Declining To Kneel

Georgia Tech won 23-20 on Saturday night courtesy of an incredible last-second touchdown throw that the Yellow Jackets shouldn’t have been able to attempt.

On Saturday, Miami led Georgia Tech by three points on third down with 436 seconds remaining but chose to run the ball instead of kneel despite the fact that Georgia Tech had no timeouts and couldn’t stop the clock.

Cristobal, on the other hand, elected to call an offensive play rather than kneel the ball in victory formation. Running back Don Chaney Jr. mishandled the ball, and Georgia Tech recovered, according to an official review.

Miami fumbled the ball, allowing Georgia Tech to capitalize with a game-winning drive.

Cristobal justified his choice to run the ball with some shaky math when speaking to the media, and he also threw his player under the bus for mishandling the ball.

“When the drive started, it was going to be 1:57 and we could burn about 1:27 off and then it was recalibrated,” Cristobal said after the game. “At the end, we should have taken a timeout.” We thought he could get the first down and we talked about two hands on the ball, but that wasn’t good enough. That’s it, we fumbled the ball and they went 75 yards in two plays. There is no excuse.

“We were moving the pile and we had a pretty good drive going. I am not going to make an excuse for it and say we should have done this or that. Sometimes we can get carried away. But I should have just stepped in and said, ‘Hey, take a knee.'”

I’m not even sure what Cristobal is trying to convey there. Was it the play clock that was re-calibrated? Is he suggesting he should’ve taken a timeout at that point to decide whether or not to kneel? Was it really so difficult to make a decision?

 

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