WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mario Cristobal isn't making excuses.
The second-year Miami head coach admitted after Saturday's 23-20 home loss to Georgia Tech that he erred by running the football instead of kneeling to run out the clock.
Miami had possession of the football and was leading 20-17 with under a minute to play when running back Don Chaney fumbled at Georgia Tech's 26-yard line.
Georgia Tech, which had no timeouts left, needed just two plays to find the end zone, culminating with Haynes King's 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Leary with two seconds left, knocking the Hurricanes from the ranks of the unbeaten.
After the game, even Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key said he thought Cristobal would have elected to run out the clock.
"We kind of thought that he would take a knee at that point," Key told reporters at the post-game news conference.
Perhaps he should have known better.
It turns out, Cristobal made a similar blunder while at Oregon, where he previously coached, during a game against Stanford in 2018. Freshman running back CJ Verdell fumbled the football with his team leading 31-28, allowing Stanford to take possession with 51 seconds left and kick a game-tying field goal as time expired. The Cardinal went on to win 38-31 in overtime.
Cristobal's questionable coaching call led to a barrage of criticism on social media and on sports talk radio shows throughout the nation, including ESPN's Paul Finebaum, who called it "utter stupidity."
"How can you not be plugged into that?" Finebaum said. "I mean, he's the head football coach."
The Hurricanes (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped out of the coaches poll completely and slipped eight spots to No. 25 in The Associated Press poll after the loss.
Credit to Cristobal for taking the fall for the costly call.
"We should have taken a knee," Cristobal told reporters after the game.
Cristobal reiterated it again Monday during an interview with WQAM's Joe Rose.
"It's the wrong decision," he said. "Should have kneeled it."
Next up for the Hurricanes is a trip to No. 12 North Carolina (5-0, 2-0 ACC).
