Everything Mario Cristobal Said Ahead of Facing Familiar Faces at SMU

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — A new week for No. 10 Miami (6-1, 2-1 ACC) as they prepare to face familar faces in the SMU Mustangs (5-3, 3-1 ACC).

Both teams are jockeying for the ACC Championship game with conference records on display to start this second-ever matchup between the two programs.

Head coach Mario Cristobal knows the importance of this game as he views it like a playoff game, just like the rest of the year for the Canes.

Opening Statement…

"Right at it, right? Went right to work. Obviously, a tremendous opportunity, going on the road again, the second time this year, actually leaving the state for the first time, and against an excellent football team. Really talented, well-coached, high-level play in all three phases."

On head coach Rhett Lashlee and how he's built SMU…

"Sure, there's a lot. I mean, I'll start with their defense. I mean, in so many statistical categories, they're their top 15, top five, top three, forcing turnovers, stopping the run, red zone defense, sacks. I believe they are there somewhere in the top three, top four, in sacks as well. So, very disruptive. Create a lot of pressure, difficult situations for the offense. Mix up their coverages really well. The ability to play man and zone really well. And they can roll them in. They've got a lot of players in a really good rotation. Offensively, they've scored a lot of points for a long time. He's been calling it for a long time, and it's done a great job. And certainly a lot of explosive playmakers in all areas, with a really good and physical offensive line as well as a quarterback that can beat you with his arm, with his feet, by extending plays, but has become an excellent pocket passer as well. So really impressive."

On SMU rostering a number of former Miami players…

"I think it's part of football. I think you see that on a weekly basis nowadays. Maybe 10 years ago, that wasn't the case, but now it is. And at the end of the day, the guys, the 22 guys on the field, are the ones that are going to have to execute right on both sides of the ball. So I know, I'm sure, both sides are equally excited for the opportunity on Saturday."

On what has allowed SMU to be so good at forcing turnovers, particularly fumbles…

"Yeah, well, I'll tell you they've got great eyes, great eye discipline. And when they get to the football, they get there with a disposition to force that thing to come on out. And I feel like just watching them on film, they have a great feel for what the guy next to them is doing. So when they close on ball carriers, on quarterbacks, on receivers, they leverage the ball really, really well. Their disposition when they get there is one of physicality to force stuff out. But they're very athletic. They've got very good balance and body control. So if they're in the vicinity, more times than not, it ends up in their hands. So gotta do a really good job being disciplined with what you run to disallow them from being in great position to create something in their favor."

On this being an ACC game with high stakes in the conference race…

"Sure, yeah, tremendous opportunity. Besides the fact you're playing a great team, it's another conference game, like we've talked about all year long. Every single game that you play, even out-of-conference games, they're all playoff games. They all have value, right? And then when you head in a conference play, as the weeks go by, right, the level of difficulty and importance just continues to elevate. So for us, it's always about a 1-0 focus, making sure that we take care of our business, making sure that we are preparing in the manner of whether it be a walk through, a meeting, a practice, that we're preparing to our standards so we can execute to the best that we possibly can. So that's our approach."

On DE Marquise Lightfoot's performance in an elevated role…

"Hot and cold. He flashed, did some things. The detail of his game, the discipline of his game, has to improve, which we expect. We expect them to. I mean, a very promising young player, a great young man. Certainly was good to get him in there, and thought he did again, some good things, but we will make sure that he invests more time and that we invest more time in him to get some of those details ironed out to elevate his level of play. But I thought a lot of those guys that jumped in there on the defensive line played well–the young guys. I thought Third Scroggins played really good football. [Armondo Blount] is not a young guy anymore. I know he should be a freshman due to him being an early enrollee in a re-class. Mondo played great football for us as well. Donta [Simpson] got in there and played some really meaningful snaps, had a tackle for loss, some other good plays. Booker Pickett went in there and did some really nice things as well. So all in all, just a very strong performance by the defense, and a lot of young guys got some good playing time."

On DE Akheem Mesidor's availability for SMU…

"We do. We expected him last week. We don't put a guy on there as probable, and we probably err on the side of optimism more times than not, but we follow directions from the medical staff and felt good about it then. Feel good about it now."

On running the ball between the tackles more this season than in previous seasons…

"Everything we do has a process, and anything game planned is because it gives us the best opportunity. Sometimes it's designed to go between the tackles, sometimes designed to stretch things out a little bit more and may end up between the tackles. Sometimes we bank on some getting spilled on counter and bouncing outside. Sometimes we think we can kick out a boxer and get inside. But I think the run game here for us has been pretty successful for a long time. We do face some loaded boxes. Sometimes it's successful, and sometimes not as successful, but it is thoroughly planned. We're always looking for an advantage in the form of a formation, in the form of an extra hat, in the form of numbers, and the form of leverage. So that's what goes into game planning the run game, and we're always looking for ways to improve that in every part of our program."

On the cornerback rotation…

"Well, we think that group really, they played well first and foremost, and the rotation was due to what we've seen in practice every single day. They earned the playing time. They did. And it starts with communication. You see the guys were much better positioned and executed calls this week that maybe we didn't a week before. And more time invested more, I would say, not comfort, but I would say knowledge of the system and understanding the ins and outs of it, and the importance of getting alligned and putting your eyes in the right place, I think, kicked in more, especially after the first drive. But the guys that were playing, they earned it, and we felt that we can be a better defense if we rotate those guys and keep them playing a little bit more fresh and at a high level."

On freshman DT Donta Simpson working his way into the lineup…

"Probably the hardest position to play as a true freshman. Getting in there as an interior defensive lineman, he really stood out in spring. Got banged up a little bit, so he just started getting his legs underneath him towards the end of camp. And now, after what is it, six weeks plus, you see that he's trying to get like that snap back. He's trying to come out of his hips more. He's got more foot and body quickness now, and he's developing more core strength, and he understands the system and his assignments, the calls that go with it, a lot better than he has. So we see a guy that's progressing really well. Still has a ways to go, but every day, he's making progress towards just getting better, and we feel very strongly he's going to be a great player."

On what physical traits make freshman WR Malachi Toney so special…

"That position he plays, besides a receiver position, he lines outside, inside, he lines up all over the place. You have to have a natural feel for the game. There's, there's nothing robotic about him. Post snap, the picture changes. If it's a route that requires finding green grass, a soft spot, he's got a great feel for that. If he is a perimeter or blocker, and the picture changes due to a pressure, and now the flat defenders got him out-leveraged. he understands half position on that play and will bust his butt to get it there and finish with really good technique and fundamentals. That's the product of, he might be 18 years old, but he's played a lot of football. And if there's something that he doesn't quite know or doesn't feel comfortable with, he spends an extraordinary amount of time learning it. Now, you couple that with the fact that he is weight room strong. He's not, he's not a frail little guy. And he's still growing. He's thick, he's strong, he's explosive, he's a weight room and workout junkie. So I think all those things combined, allow him to be, and the mentality, of course, allow him to be a great football player."On what physical traits make freshman WR Malachi Toney so special…

On the performances of WR's Tony Johnson, Joshua Moore, and Jojo Trader…

"Probably what we all see, we see a lot of potential in all those guys, and then we see the areas where we got to get better at. One thing that you have to do by mid-season, you have to eliminate any mental mistakes, right? Techniques and fundamentals have got to get better. And certainly you can't allow drops to happen. Okay, we had a couple in the game. Not the young guys, maybe more the older guys, but we saw improvement. We saw it in practice. The past two and a half weeks have been much more productive and much more consistent. Now we got to carry all that consistency over to the game because the details of that position nowadays, especially in some of those condensed formations, or in some of the plays that bring an extra guy in the box, those guys are responsible for a lot. It's more than just running around, catching the ball, so alignment assignments important. Splits are important. Footwork is important. We saw a lot of progress, a lot of promise, and all those guys, and we expect their roles to continue to increase and then to continue to get better."

On how DE Rueben Bain is impacting the game outside of counting stats…

"Well, I think the grounding was a result of his pressure as well, right? That's a loss of down, and that's as good as a sack, right? A holding penalty also caused by that as well. It changes the way people have to play you, so they have to keep an extra guy in,that's one less receiver they have out, right? Less of a pull on a flat defender. A hook, curl player has got cleaner eyes. Also, if people, you can make them right or left handed if they choose to run away from him. But when when a player causes that much change for an opponent, then maybe you don't make them one-dimensional, but certainly you handcuff them on certain things that they like to do. So it's in terms of statistical numbers or whatnot. I think the world's always in love with that stuff, because it's a measurement, right? It's a metric. But the best metric for us is the film and the product on the field, and he's playing at an extremely high level that's causing people to play different. And his continued push to get better and better, it's gonna draw more and more attention. And the statistical part will come with it. The impact is, it's not going to go away. It's only going to be more and more this."

On the importance of time of possession in this SMU game…

"I think every aspect imaginable is always brought to the table. By Sunday night, Monday morning, you have to really come to a realization, maybe not all the way there, but pretty strong idea, this is the best way to play to win the game, right? And of course, points and stops are at the forefront of that. And you're looking at a team that scores a lot of points and gets a lot of stops, right, with some really good players that can hurt you with explosive play. They could also they can methodically drive it down the field when they want to as well. And then we feel like we're finding our groove again offensively, in the end of the first half and then the second half of the game. So all those things are taken into account and discussed. Tempo is always something you have to prepare for. Varied tempos are things you have to prepare for; misplaced personnel, funky formations, right opening scripts, all that stuff is taken into account. And certainly, we feel that we have a good plan so far. We'll continue working on that."

On QB Carson Beck's performance against Stanford…

"Consistency, accuracy, decision making, and the ability to improve it even more. We had a chance to really connect in our last–we scored six of the last seven drives. We could have been seven for seven. And the opening drive, even though we reduced the amount of offensive pre-snap penalties, we had one on the first drive, and it certainly hurt us. But thought that when we were all on the same page, that the execution was at a much better level, and there's an appetite to continue to get better, improve."