The No. 5 Miami Hurricanes went on the road to play the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Sept. 18 and came away with a 33-20 win. While they improved to 3-0 in the college football season, some fans aren't thrilled with how the game ended for the Hurricanes, opening some conversations about Mario Cristobal and his team.
Miami jumped out to a 31-7 lead over Wake Forest with 8:56 left in the third quarter, but they managed to score just two points for the rest of the game. Instead of keeping their foot on the gas, they became conservative and seemed to play the second half looking to kill the clock.
That approach allowed Wake Forest to fight their way back into the game, but considering that Miami was the far better team, that isn't the way you want to see them close out a contest.
Mario Cristobal has more eyes on him after Miami's game vs. Wake Forest
After having complete control in this game, the offense fell flat. They went five straight possessions in the second half without scoring points, tallying 17 total yards of offense. The sequence went punt, punt, punt, punt, then a 54-yard field goal that was blocked.
That second half was far too familiar for Cane fans. Under Cristobal's tenure with Miami, there have been several occasions when Miami failed to slam the door shut on a game and left teams hanging around.
That's a risky bet, especially since Miami's schedule is softer compared to some of the other top teams in the country. The Hurricanes can't afford to have performances like that going forward, as that could develop into a habit for them.
As the season progresses, the matchups will only get more difficult, especially as the competition gets harder. Yes, Miami was in the National Championship Game last year, but if they want to return, they can't play as they did in the second half against Wake Forest.
If they pulled that out against a better team, there's a good chance that the Hurricanes would have walked away with a loss.
Of course, there's some context, as Miami saw Malachi Toney, Mark Fletcher, CharMar Brown, and Ahmad Moten Sr. all exit the game at different points with injuries. With how important some of these guys are to the team, the Hurricanes had to pivot, but that doesn't give them excuses for some of their mishaps.
This Miami roster is loaded, and they should be comfortable enough to still play with the same aggression even with some stars sidelined. Defensively, they need to tackle better, as they missed far too many tackles in the second half.
On offense, they need to stay aggressive and take shots downfield to keep the defense on their heels.
Although Miami won, this outing opened up more conservations on their strength of schedule. These kinds of games cast doubt on the program, and if the Hurricanes want to prove they are a serious National Championship threat, they need to play better on both sides of the ball, especially against teams they are more talented than. That starts and finishes with Cristobal.
Add us as a preferred source on Google