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It was one of the most indefensible coaching decisions in football history.
The Miami Hurricanes had the game won. They endured a three-interception game from quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to hold a 20-17 lead with less than a minute left to go. They had a 98.7% Win Probability, and all they had to do was to take a knee and walk off the field.
Instead, head coach Mario Cristobal called for a handoff to running back Don Chaney, who fumbled the ball, and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets recovered. Then, Georgia Tech Haynes King hit Malik Rutherford for 30 yards, and with two seconds left in the game, King hit Christian Leary for a 44-yard touchdown that won it for Miami’s opponent, 23-20.
“That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”
Miami could've taken a knee and closed out Georgia Tech. Instead … disaster struck 😳 pic.twitter.com/I5vAvtn78p
— ESPN (@espn) October 8, 2023
The 17th-ranked Hurricanes suffered their first loss of the season as a result.
“We should have taken a knee,” Cristobal said.
Georgia Tech coach Brent Key agreed
“We kind of thought they were taking a knee.”
I asked Mario Cristobal why they did not take the knee at the end of the game. This was his answer, transcribed as best as I could. @InsideTheU asked for clarification. That's the second question. pic.twitter.com/RsRH6CcuLO
— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) October 8, 2023
Coach Mario Cristobal's opening statement following UM's stunning loss to Georgia Tech.#GoCanes || #ItsAllAboutTheU || @CanesFootball pic.twitter.com/TCQWFOwmq4
— Gabriel Garcia (@Gabewritesports) October 8, 2023
Even more amazingly, Cristobal has done this before. When he was the Oregon Ducks’ head coach in 2018, Cristobal’s team was playing Stanford, and the Ducks had a 31-28 lead with 51 seconds left in the game. On second-and-3 from the Stanford 43-yard line, the call was a handoff to CJ Verdell, who fumbled the ball. Stanford recovered, and went on to win, 38-31, in overtime.
“We felt pretty good about the run game,” Cristobal said after THAT event. “We just needed one more to get a first down and close out the game.”
As you might expect, social media was all over this one.