Miami coach Mario Cristobal has talked a tough game but none of it has shown up in his team so far | D'Angelo

MIAMI GARDENS — Shouldn't the Miami Hurricanes expect more for $80 million?

We may be just seven games into the Mario Cristobal era, but this is as embarrassing a start as one could have envisioned. And it goes much deeper than a 3-4 record and three consecutive home losses. Deeper than the eight turnovers and a humiliating 45-21 loss to Duke Saturday. Deeper than falling behind by three scores to Middle Tennessee and Duke during that streak.

This is about a team that appeared to quit for the second time this year after facing adversity, after a coach comes riding into town promising to change the culture while emphasizing more discipline and responsibility.

Cristobal, who was handed $80 million to leave Oregon and return to his alma mater, likes to portray himself as a no-nonsense, tough-talking coach.

He'll be tested more than ever when it comes to backing up that talk.

"You either fix it or you get people that care and play as hard as you're supposed to as a Miami Hurricane," Cristobal said. "What we got to do requires tough people. To turn the program around, to rebuild it, requires tough-minded people. If (lack of effort) shows up on tape, they got to go play somewhere else."

Cristobal added something he said multiple times after watching the Blue Devils (5-3) so thoroughly dominate the final quarter and a half that they showed mercy on the Hurricanes by taking a knee on the UM 5-yard line to end the game.

"That was regression."

But how? How after six games and a loss to Middle Tennessee, a team that has lost three straight games by an average of 20 points since, could things unravel even more against Duke?

Cristobal does not have an answer. He will look for the clues this week, but Saturday, moments after wondering what just happened, he could only talk about the future.

"Most importantly when you go through something like this and you get hit in the face like this, you got to be tough enough to look each other in the eye and go to work," he said. "It doesn't magically get better."

And even worse than the results on the field is the damage this could do in the stands if the season plays out as it has gone so far.

The Hurricanes already play in one of the most sterile atmospheres among big-time programs. Hard Rock Stadium wasn't even half full for the opening kickoff and most walked out early in the fourth quarter ... sometime after Miami's sixth turnover. Or was it the seventh?

And the booing started long before that.

Now, it may take billionaire booster John Ruiz reaching much deeper into those pockets to persuade any elite players to come to Miami, and just as importantly, any productive players to stay.

Nobody has gotten less bang for his buck in Miami than Ruiz.

This is not to say Cristobal cannot end this cycle of mediocrity. That will take time, especially to accumulate talent through good old-fashioned recruiting and the transfer portal.

And when you look at what happened Saturday, you wonder how long that will take.

This game may have ushered in the Jake Garcia era after quarterback Tyler Van Dyke left in the second quarter with what appeared to be a serious injury to his right arm or shoulder.

Garcia, the quarterback the fans clamored to see when Van Dyke struggled against Middle Tennessee, was responsible for five of Miami's eight turnovers. He threw for 198 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also lost two fumbles.

Eight turnovers are the most by a Power 5 school since 2009 and half of them occurred in the fourth quarter. Miami took a 21-17 lead two minutes into the second half before Duke scored the final 28 points of the game.

"It's unacceptable," tight end Will Mallory said.

The turnovers tell just part of the story when it comes to mistakes. Miami allowed six sacks, failed twice on fourth-down attempts, missed tackles (something that has become a staple of a Miami defense), dropped passes, and had a bust on third-and-2 that forced a punt.

Other than that, how was your day, Mario Cristobal?

"We got to do a lot of work," Cristobal said. "When it turns we'll look back on this as lessons. Right now you got to eat it, you got to be a tough son of a gun. If you're not, it ain't going to work."

Tom D'Angelo is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him attdangelo@pbpost.com. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mario Cristobal era off to embarrassing start for Miami Hurricanes