Miami's Undisciplined Nature is Growing more 'Frustrating'
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The Miami Hurricanes are one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to penalties. They ranked 132nd out of 134 teams and the worst in the ACC with how uncharacteristically undisciplined they have been.
But in actuality, under Mario Cristobal, this team has been one of the most undisciplined teams since he returned to Coral Gables.
Now, after one of the worst losses of the season against the SMU Mustangs, the penalties have started to make Cristobal even more frustrated.
"We felt like we made progress the previous week against Stanford, but we regressed," Cristobal said. "In between the whistles, the play was really good and really physical. The pre-snap penalties were hurtful. It is not our standard and something that we certainly have to fix and get better."
It continued to get the Hurricanes as late in the game, a late hit on Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings pushed the Mustangs into field goal range, but it was thanks to a late whistle and Marquise Lightfoot not hearing it, and slowly letting up on the QB.
"It was really frustrating," Cristobal said. "Any time you have the opportunity to see what a team is going to run on fourth down, they are going to run their 'A' play because the game is on the line and you can use a timeout to see their personnel and formation. You can give your best pass rushers an opportunity to catch their breath and let it rip on fourth down.
"During the play, everybody is engaged and blocking. The guards and defensive tackles are totally going at it, and I know there was a collision there, but there wasn't an attempt to knock anybody out. Really disappointed that a game with things on the line like that was allowed to be officiated in that manner. No excuses. We move on."
The Hurricanes now have to clean up everything. It is the only way for them to even get a chance to make it back to being in contention with chasing the College Football Playoff.
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.