COACH… “a big time win for us.”

Miami won its third game against a ranked opponent on Saturday night, beating arch rival Florida State, 28-22. After the game, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal met with the press and shared his feelings on the game and it’s importance.

On winning the state championship…

“This is a big time win for us,” said Cristobal. “It is our fourth straight game facing an opponent from the state of Florida and it is important to us to be state champions. We of course started ACC play on the road against a Top 25 team and finding a way to get it done. We took control early in the second half and really did some things to let them work their way back into the game and make it interesting. It was overall a tremendous effort by our guys. Every coach and every member of this organization really poured into the bye week and studying up and game planning what they do on offense and defense, which is very different from what they did a year ago. I am really proud of our players for the way they played tonight.”

"It is such a big deal. I played here and I know what it means to play in this game, especially in Tallahassee. It has been years since both teams were ranked. There are so many high school rivalries and players going against each other. It lasts an entire year. It is such an important thing. Being a Miami Hurricane means you find a way to get it done. It has always been part of the DNA and credit to them and coach Norvell. He has a really good team and they play hard and prepared well. But credit to the guys in our locker room because they found a way to get it done.”

On Carson Beck…

”He was on fire. He did a great job. Certainly the momentum swing of the interception and the flea-flicker for a touchdown. He made a lot of really good plays and then at the end he almost made another one. If he hits that one, it is a touchdown. His leadership and the way he pours into preparation and his teammates and everything about him screams winner. We are glad he is on our side.”

On Malachi Toney…

"I am going to tell him he has a long ways to go and he has to keep working. If you watch Malachi on his daily assignments, it won't surprise you. I don't like handing out praise, but if everybody did what Malachi does, their performance levels would go through the roof. He is an early, early, early guy. He tries to correct it before he gets to the sidelines. It means the world to him and his teammates mean the world to him. It is a shame that we motioned and got the look that we wanted and got the flag, or else he would have had another big time play. Now since you praise him, I have to push him harder all week long [smiles].”

On Miami’s defensive  performance …

"The fourth quarter is when they got a chunk of their yards .The play count was up over 80. After their first drive and we held them to a field goal, our guys really got their cleats on the ground and started playing really good football with collapsing the pocket and staying in the rush lanes and getting the quarterback on the ground and slamming down the run game. We changed our coverages really well. You check, they check, you check—it was a big cat and mouse game between the coordinators and Corey Hetherman called a great game. The guys up front went hard. There are some things to fix, but overall a tremendous effort.”

Can this Miami team be special?

"I don't think you deny that you have something special going on, but you spend your time on assessing and analyzing the things you can get better at. Whatever shows on film that you are not good at, is going to get exposed. When we were heading out the hotel, it seemed like everybody was about to get upset. It is playoff football now. Everybody knows your warts and holes and ticks. If you refuse to believe every team has good players and coaches and if you refuse to believe that your holes need to get fixed, you are not going to last long in this profession. We want to establish that DNA, but we have a long ways to go.”

"We are moving forward. We are not going back. We are taking the values and principles of all those awesome teams and physicality and play making ability and the brotherhood of those teams and going forward and pushing Miami football to the modern day.”

GO CANES!