Mario Cristobal Ready for No. 10 Miami to go 'Full Throttle'

“The expectation has not been met, but there’s progress towards that expectation," Cristobal said. "Communication, the physicality, and playing with technique and fundamentals showed up today. It showed up there in the way that we ran the ball on offense. It showed up for them on defense. It showed up in the way we also stopped the run. There were some legitimate, we’ll call them ‘game day collisions.’ It was all game-day situationally, and I’m proud of the team, the way we responded to that."

With the Fighting Irish on the horizon, having a defense that can stop the run will be a key to beating the national championship runner ups.

"From red-zone opportunities to two-minute [drills], to two plays left in the game, one play left in the game, 2-point conversions, all that stuff," Cristobal continued. "I thought that overall, they handled it really, really well and that they weren’t fazed. And we do feel there’s a lot more in the tank and that’s what we’ve talked about right now. Let’s go watch the film, let’s see what it tells us and let’s go attack it full throttle.”

Attacking it full throttle has been the main message that Cristobal has been preaching since the start of Fall Camp. Pads are on now, and the real hitting is beginning. The physicality is there, but for a team with national championship aspirations, there has to be more in every aspect of the game.

“[Go] full-throttle, every part about it," Cristobal said. "Situationally, we still have some things we’ve got to cover. We’ve got to cover four minutes, do some more overtime. We spend an enormous amount of time on all of the other phases, but really, technique, fundamentals, communication, ball security, ball disruption, playing with great effort. Every single play for us has to have a life of its own."

The Hurricanes are still getting better each day, as time ticks away for the first snap of the 2025 season. Cristobal likes where his team is at, but for him, it will always be about progress.

"I think our team is getting there," Cristobal said. "Process-oriented players tend to forget about and not think about the result or the previous play or what may happen later, but just stay in the now. There’s a lot of progress towards that, and we’re going to hammer that, and we’re going to demand a lot out of each other, and we’re going to need a lot of energy, and we’re going to progress.”

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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.