Miami’s Mario Cristobal addresses decision not to take knee against GT after public scorn

Late Monday afternoon, both University of Miami coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said they made the call to run a play instead of having the quarterback take a knee Saturday in UM’s loss to Georgia Tech.

Two days after immense criticism following the ill-fated decision with 33 seconds left against the Yellow Jackets, Cristobal went on the radio in the morning and then had his weekly on-campus news conference to face the inevitable.

“I made the wrong call,’’ Cristobal told reporters. “I take full ownership in not taking a knee and giving them the opportunity to have a couple extra plays and preventing us from sealing the win.

“Both coaches and players showed up with a tremendous attitude, which is not surprising, to get right back to work and go get better and all focus on improvement and getting ready for our opportunity this weekend.’’

Said Dawson: “What we did at the end was the wrong decision. I called it. It is what it is. I wish we would have done something different but we didn’t. So, gotta live with it. ...Looking back, if you had to do it over again, you call a timeout, you regroup.’’

Cristobal reiterated that the process was followed for end-of-game situations, but wouldn’t go into specifics. Dawson concurred, saying “I’m not going to sit here and go through the process with you guys. What’s said on the headsets is between us. Ultimately, I called the play and I can live with it. It was the wrong thing to do.’’

The Hurricanes blew a 20-17 lead over the Yellow Jackets that would have stood if they had taken a knee, in what is known as the victory formation, on their final offensive play. Instead, Miami opted to run a play and tailback Don Chaney Jr. fumbled the ball — a call that was reviewed and stood but could have gone the other way as it appeared his elbow hit the ground before he lost the ball. Georgia Tech took over and won the game 23-20, with one second left, on a 44-yard touchdown pass four plays later.

According to Cristobal, the Canes have asked for clarification on the fumble call. He said he hasn’t heard back yet. “We have not received any clarity of when his elbow was down and it was called a fumble,’’ the coach told reporters. “It does run its course but we have not received anything on that and some of the other questions we had that we thought were critical factors in the game.’’

The Canes (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped from No. 17 to 25 in the AP Top 25 poll and dropped out of the Coaches’ poll on Sunday. They travel to No. 12 North Carolina (5-0, 2-0) for a 7:30 p.m. game (ESPN) on Saturday. But at least through Monday, all anyone could talk about was not taking a knee.

“There’s no way to rationalize it, Joe,’’ Cristobal told Joe Rose of WQAM. “It’s the wrong decision. Should have kneeled it and didn’t do it. So, press on, man. ...“Like everything, we have a process. We got the first down and then after that, again, there’s no way to rationalize it. Just the wrong decision. Should have taken a knee, taken it out of the players’ hands.

“...Like I mentioned before, this entire program is based on accountability. We gave ourselves a chance to win and just gotta make that decision to take a knee. That’s it.”

What has Cristobal told Chaney after all this?

“To shake it off, should have taken a knee. Next.’’

Dawson said Chaney was “doing awesome’’ and that “nobody blames him.”

“That kid played his heart out... Ultimately, it helps when you got a lot of people that love on you and get you through it.’’

Cristobal said he addressed the team Sunday.

“You treat it with truth, with respect and with honesty,’’ the coach said. “That’s what we always do. You spend time with people you need to spend time with. And you also make sure we understand this thing don’t stop. We gotta play next Saturday.

“Again, we came up short, Wish that we… Obviously could have made a better decision. We gotta play on Saturday. We gotta get ready to roll. Own it, take complete ownership of it and go forward. That’s what this is based on. That’s how we raised our kids, that’s how we coach our players.”

Added Dawson, who said practice was “great” Monday: “Kids are resilient. It’s the people around them that aren’t. They’re probably more resilient than coaches. That was as hard of a loss as I’ve had in my career. It affects you, it affects your family. But ultimately, we have another game to play in a week. You gotta move on.’’

Asked about the defense breaking down at the end and if he thought it was because they were surprised at what had just transpired, Cristobal said, “I’ll tell you what I told them. I told any player that fumbled the ball, anybody that was on the field at that time [to] take it off them. I just could have made it easier and kneeled it. I don’t want to point at players.’’

The Canes turned over the ball five times Saturday— three interceptions by Tyler Van Dyke and two lost fumbles.

“Certainly something we want to work on and get better at,’’ Cristobal said. “But also most importantly not point fingers at anybody. There were many ways to win that game and a few ways to lose it. The bottom line is, you just gotta do better.”

A bright spot on Sunday was when a nationally heralded receiver committed to UM’s class of 2024 on Sunday evening. Rose asked how difficult it has been to call players and people after that game.

“This is like any other business in the world,’’ Cristobal told Rose. “It doesn’t stop. You don’t stop. You don’t ball up. You don’t crawl into a hole. You don’t shell up. To do this the right way you’ve got to have the guts to, regardless of the outcome of a game, go do your job knowing that all that matters is the very next play, the very next minute, the very next part of the process… If you don’t have people that are resilient and that are tough enough to deal with — even when it’s self-induced —you’ve got the wrong people.

“We’ve got the right people in this building. It sucks, it hurts, it’s absolutely agonizing. You know what? Get your ass up and go to work.’’

Finally, Rose asked if Cristobal will go over those same situations with his coaches “and make sure everybody is on the same page at the end of the game.’’

Cristobal: “Yes, you go over those situations on a fairly consistent basis throughout camp and throughout the season. Yes. ...There’s no ducking when things go wrong. Face it, you go forward. And that’s the only way to train and grow and develop as a team and as a person. Press on. Go Canes.”

▪ The ACC on Monday announced the Clemson at Miami game Oct. 21 at Hard Rock Stadium will be aired at 7:30 p.m. on ABC or 8 p.m. on ACC Network. Time and network will be officially announced after this weekend’s game at UNC.