Everything Mario Cristobal said ahead of Miami Football's Matchup with Louisville

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes are one of the most complete teams in the country but they are facing another team with the came quailties on Friday night.

While head coach Mario Cristobal might not like the idea of playing on a Friday, he still prepares the Canes for the Louisville Cardinals (4-1, 1-1 ACC).

This team is led by Jeff Brohm, one of the best play callers and head coaches in the country, but Cristobal knows not to underestimate what comes on the other sideline. He previews the Cardinals on Monday afternoon ahead of the matchup with the ACC foe.

Opening Statement…

"Obviously already been prepping for a little over a week for a great Louisville football team. A lot of talent, a lot of NFL talent all over the entire roster. Very well-coached football team, very physical, fast, explosive. They've got probably the most, and more in abundance, of proven playmakers on their football roster right now, and certainly they find a way to get them the ball. But it's not just relegated to their skill guys. I mean, they've got really good, athletic, big offensive linemen. Their running backs get downhill, can get outside, through you, around you. Their defensive line has been extremely disruptive, top 10 red zone team, both offensively and defensively. Top defense on total defense in the conference as well. And certainly they've battled a lot of balls got in their hands, on a lot of interceptions as well. I believe they lead the conference as well in passing defense. So again, just a really, really good, really talented football team and tremendous opportunity for our team on Friday night."

On Louisville's defense...

"Yeah, it really pops. It's as a complete of a team as we have faced or will face all year long, both in their play style and in their talent levels. They have done just an excellent job forcing negative plays, disrupting the schedule of the offense. They just play really hard, really fast. They communicate really well. They give you a number of different looks, both up front and on the back end, disguise coverage is really well. And they get to the ball with bad intentions. They force a lot of turnovers, but just a really impressive football team."

On what he's learned from Jeff Brohm's play-calling style over past two meetings...

"It's a lot of respect for him. I mean, he's one of the best, not the best, play caller in college football, and has been doing it for a long, long time. And again, they just do a great job with their personnel and with their football team."

On how the team managed the bye week...

"I think over the years, we've found a pretty good formula. One we feel comfortable with, where we're getting the right amount of both. We're also investing in strength and conditioning and nutrition, and recovery. Modern day, in terms of that, is just taking on a whole new life of its own right, the ability to get your players to optimal levels as it relates to readiness and physicality and whatnot. But we did practice, and we practiced hard, but we invested in what we're doing schematically, what we've done well, what we haven't done so well. Technically, what we have done well, not so well, from the use of our hands, to our hat position, pad level, eye discipline, whatnot, communication. So we challenged our guys, and at the same time, provided them opportunities to just get better with extra meeting time, extra walk-through time, and, of course, extra practice time while still focusing on the importance of our opponent on Friday night."

On starters playing special teams...

"We have a lot of our frontline guys, when I say frontline guys, starters or contributors, all over special teams, because it can never be that phase that you do in between offense and defense. [Jimmy] Johnson would always tell us, 'You got to win two or three phases to win the football game.' And so we've improved a lot on special teams, and we're facing a team that is very aggressive on special teams. Got us with a fake last year that really changed the momentum of the game. And so we understand that, we understand the value of the way our punter and kicker have been playing, and the fact that they have what's arguably the best returner in the game as well. I think he has two touchdowns already and has a couple other big returns. He averages over 20 yards upon return. So they're the importance of that has been emphasized, and that's also a big area of focus throughout the bye week."

On the state of the player-led leadership

"We impose that upon them all the time. There comes a point in time on every roster where the guys that you send out for the coin toss, they've got to take over, right? There comes a point in time where those guys just got to, from an alpha standpoint, as a leader, as a real deal, dude, like you've got to set the tone in the locker room, in meetings, and in practice, and we're seeing that more and more. This is a really hard-working group of dudes. They're tough, they're driven, they're really interested in just getting better and winning, and they have zero issues getting pushed, because we push hard. You guys have been around practice, you see the way that we push. They are very in tune, and very much, I would say, almost, they appreciate the fact that we push and that we're on them hard and that we're tough on them. It's not easy to be a Miami Hurricane, but they recognize that they have an opportunity to do really good things, but that we're nowhere near or need to be, and the only way to get there is through working at it and accomplishing that throughout the week to make that carry over to Fridays and Saturdays."

On if there's anything they had to change up due to unusual bye week scheduling...

"I think if I start making a big deal of it, then it becomes a big deal with the players, you know? I mean, it is what it is. You're never going to get the perfect schedule. You're never going to have the perfect anything in life. And I think it's important for us. We're all adults. I think our players are adults. It's important for us to set the tone with that as well. Whatever comes our way. All right. So what? Now what? Let's roll. Let's do what we do. I think what we all know is that the bottom line is at Friday, at 7 pm the ball will be placed on the tee and kicked off. And between the time we've had and that time, we got to do our best to prepare."

On the acclimation of Corey Hetherman...

"You probably never, ever get to tell the full story till way down the line. Right? Years go by. I think continuity, the right type of continuity, you could have the wrong type of continuity that could sink you, you know. And sometimes your best allies and your best advocates are in the building, and sometimes the worst ones are right. So I think we've done a really good job selecting, streamlining, making the right additions to our staff, all those things combined to get to a place where I think these these guys, the people in the building, the men and women, from academics to development, recruiting, they're really in and they add to the culture. They're all about the culture. They understand that we're not perfect, and we have our warts like anybody else, but that, like, deep down at the core of what we do, what we want to do, it's real, it's demanding, it's gonna make and get the best out of everybody. And so they bring it, and we're getting better. We're getting better as a staff, just like we are as a team and a program, so and just like we talked about how we still have a ways to go as a staff. Corey [Hetherman] has brought a lot to the table. He really has. He's a special dude. He really is. He's a special one. He's only going to keep doing better and better."

On Friday night games...

"In my opinion, it was meant, I'm not in any way, shape, or form has anything to do with this particular game. It's been scheduled for a while, and there hasn't been, we haven't discussed anything about it that's negative. If you look at big picture-wise, you always would love for Thursdays and Fridays to be high school. It belongs to them, and then Saturdays for college, and then Sundays for the NFL. But, I mean, there's so much football to be played. I think there's 50 straight days of football, so there's enough to go around, and I'm all about it. I mean, play football every day, as long as humanly possible, and the world will be a better place."

On the importance of finding more production from the rest of the receivers...

"Well, I think they are there. And I think the ball finds you in this offense, right? This is the way that we run our offense. It's not designed for one guy to get the ball all the time. It is designed to attack coverages, covered structures, right? What defense is giving and taking away. And so if you do what you're supposed to do in this offense, the ball finds you. So you'll see from last year to the year before, now this year, certain guys have more statistical impressive games than others at different times of the year in different games. So we're not concerned about that. I think the players understand that that's the way this offense is structured, and that as long as they bust their butts and do the right things and play really, really hard, which we have to, we have to play harder and get better, that the ball will find them. And it's all about doing your job, man. Doing your job and making routine plays work out in a big way."

On the level of buy in from the roster in the NIL era...

"We're just being very honest. I mean, we work really, really hard, and six for 109, might have 12 mental errors and four poor blocks to it, so you'll be ripped us as much as a guy that ran the wrong route and dropped the ball. So, we're very big picture oriented. And by that, I mean team-first mentality, knowing that, for example, the 16 scouts that were out there today, they're not necessarily all interested in stats. They want to know how you play the game, and what you bring to the table, and all that stuff. I mean, it screams on film, from the way you come out early for walk walk-through, to whether you have your shirt tucked in and you're busting your butt in the run game as a receiver, whether you're finishing your blocks on offense. So I think that stands out. And I think, we also we're getting better. So it's probably a little bit harder to play at Miami than it was a few years ago, and hopefully, more and more good players want to come here, so that the competition gets better. Because the one thing we are seeing competition that is bringing out the best out of our guys, and that's the only way to fulfill our promise to them, to make them the best that they can be. So we're going to stay along those lines."

On the players playing in front of a lot of fans...

"Oh, we all notice. I mean, once the ball is kicked off, I mean, you might as well be in outer space, right? I mean, you're focused on what you're doing. But, yeah, it's the support of the community, the passion of the community, the diehards that have come out, the new ones that have come out, the way that they've packed that stadium and brought the noise and brought that juice and energy. It's been awesome. And now, just like we have to continue to get better, and when we do some good, sustain that energy, that's what we need out of our fan base as well. You've got to bring it, man. We play some really good football teams. Hard Rock is a place that we take a lot of pride in going in there and playing well for our people, our families, our community, for the Canes, right? And so just as importantly, as you know, we need them there. And we're always going to demand their absolute best every time they come out."

On DB Bryce Fitzgerald hitting the ground running after being the last arrival of freshman class...

"I mean, it's very similar. I guess guys have done it here, like, what? Mark Fletcher, right? OJ [Frederique] was another one, right? Football is a developmental sport, and you never can completely predict if it's going to happen day one, year three, year four. We've had so many guys, probably equal talent levels, that have gotten it at different points in their career. So credit to him, the time he's invested. Credit to him for his ability to really turn it up when he was demanded and called upon in practice to perform and go out there and do it against our frontline players. He's only getting better as well. He'll tell you right now, there's so many parts of his game he's got to get better at. So work in progress. Proud of him for what he's done so far, but he well knows, because I'm on him every day. He can expect that. We went to the same high school. So he's got to keep bringing it. But special future for him."

On RB Jordan Lyle and his status...

"He's close. I thought he was close last week. I think he's there now. Excited to see him be fully healthy and go out there and play to his capabilities. People forget that game one, all those guys are co-starters to us, but when we rolled out there, he took the first couple snaps against Notre Dame. He's a special player. You know football hurts, man. You know football hurts. And you get nicked up, you get banged around a little bit, and sometimes you could play through it, and sometimes you don't look as good playing through it. And some things take a little bit longer. It just took a little bit longer than expected, than even he expected, but it was never a matter of him not trying. He's always worked his butt off. He's a tough ass dude. He's a driven guy, he's a team guy, and he's ready to roll. So I'm excited to see him."

On the bye week recruiting efforts...

"You'd like to space it out more. It's almost like a quarter system, but it is what it is. You're only allowed 33 evals. That means, like, if you count the staff, you send out 10 staff guys on a Wednesday. That's 10 of your 33, so you have to be very strategic. You have to cover a lot of ground, and we did. It's just the balance of making sure that you don't miss any part of our players development. Because we invest a lot in development. We invest a lot in being around our guys, and at the same time getting to the places we have to get to, not only recruit, but to evaluate, right? You want to see these guys that you're recruiting, and how are they performing, how do they respond in competitive situations? How do they play against really good competition? How they play deep into the season when they're in a favorable position for the postseason, or whether they're not, right? You want to see their competitive character. So there's really no balance. You just go. Your bye weeks are just as busy, if not, maybe even a little bit busier, minus the Saturday than a regular in-season week."

On how Miami handled silent communication in a noisy road enviornment...

"I think we prepared well. The sound system that we have here, you could turn that thing up to 110 plus decibels. And it was at that. You always research how loud a place can get, and you drown out any potential verbal communication that your staff and your players can have. We make it very difficult on the staff and players to the point where they're upset hroughout practice. And good. Need to be upset. Need to be pissed. Need to find a way to make it work. Because when we left that stadium, everybody was like, 'Damn. Thank God we did that. That really helped us prepare for this game and be successful.'"