Miami coach Mario Cristobal, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman discuss the Hurricanes’ bye week, reflect on elements from the team’s win over Florida on Sept. 20 and preview the matchup vs. FSU on Saturday night.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal
(FSU-Miami rivalry) “We always knew this as the best rivalry in football coming up. As a player, it was always the reason why players chose to go to one of the two respecitve schools. College football is the best sport in the world so the fact that people bring up historical moments and what not, it's not surprising. I do think that our players, alumni bases, they all understand how intense this rivalry is.”
(FSU's run game) “It starts with their offensive line. They're a big, physical bunch. Real heavy handed. They're light on their feet. They mix up the tempos, they mix up their formations. They're very versatile - they run it all - power, counter, inside zone, wide zone, toss. Everything. Quarterback is a really good runner as well. He's really good at everything that he does. But I think it starts and ends with physicality. They get downhill. They finish runs. They run their fight through contact.”
Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson
(Carson Beck's last game against Florida) “The only thing that was really glaring in that game was obviously the interception. It was a good play by the corner. If he leads him a little bit across the field, you got a good play. ... Other than that, it was a pretty solid performance. It was in the downpour. He was 8 of 16 on third down. Those completions kept drives going.”
(Does calling a game change considering the opponent's offense) “The flow of the game matters. Playing complementary football, that term is used a lot, but ultimately how the game unfolds, it matters. When you're facing a team like Florida State, and we know what their capabilities are on offense, obviously that changes things. You got to play to win the game by one point. However that looks.”
(Facing a 3-3-5 defense) “They just change things up a lot. You got to be on point with your run fits. You got to be on point with your pass game because the coverage is going to change quite a bit. They're going to keep your eyes focused and so they're going to change the look a lot.”
Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman
(On the players’ understanding of the defense in Hetherman’s first season) “Every week we're playing faster. I think guys are trusting the technique. I think our communication is getting better. That was a big thing that we worked on last week. Going back to the fundamentals, going back to the communication and just trying to be a little bit more detailed in everything we do on defense.”
(FSU’s Tommy Castellanos) “They run the football really well. Throw the down and distance out, they can run it at any time. We have to do a great job with containing the quarterback, caging the quarterback, having a guy underneath, making sure we have eyes on him. It always adds a different element when you have to defend that quarterback run.”
(Miami defensive lineman Rueben Bain) “He's been a dominant player. What he did this offseason, how he took care of his body, the way he works, the way he gets the extra reps in practice, how he's gone about his fundamentals and techniques, how he attacks every single day, that's what shows up on the field. If you work at it constantly on the offseason, summer, the winter, spring football, it's now showing what he did in this offseason.”
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