Miami HC Mario Cristobal takes blame for blunder against Georgia Tech

It will take more than a mea culpa for Miami head coach Mario Cristobal to erase the sting of his all-time blunder in Saturday's 23-20 home loss to Georgia Tech, but it's a start.

On Monday, Cristobal said, "I made the wrong call," when discussing his decision to run a play instead of take a kneel down with under 40 seconds and the Yellow Jackets with no timeouts. 

"I take full ownership in not taking a knee and giving them the opportunity to have a couple extra plays and preventing us from sealing the win," he continued.

It's fitting that Miami lost a game because it chose not to run victory formation. It's also the kind of unforced error that could get a coach fired.

Cristobal is in damage control and saying all the right things after his unfathomably wrong decision. Instead of discussing the importance of his team's upcoming game against Associated Press No. 12 North Carolina (5-0), Cristobal is stuck answering questions about a game in the past.

The upcoming game against the Tar Heels was a Hurricanes kneel-down away from being one between two undefeated ACC teams. Instead, Miami needs a win to avoid becoming an afterthought in its conference.

As bad as Cristobal's decision was, it wasn't the only miscue by the Hurricanes. They also turned the ball over five times against Georgia Tech, which if duplicated against the Tar Hells will ensure Cristobal doesn't have to worry about an end-of-game kneel-down.

The worst thing about Cristobal's decision was that it was a mistake he's made before. In 2018 as Oregon head coach, Cristobal declined to kneel out a game against Stanford, resulting in a C.J. Verdell fumble and an overtime win by the Cardinal.

So, while acknowledging the problem is a step in the right direction, it's only lip service until Cristobal proves himself on the field.