The month of November again has tripped up No. 9 Miami and football coach Mario Cristobal.
The Hurricanes stumbled for the second time in three games Saturday, falling to SMU 26-20 in overtime and putting a team that looked like one of the best in the country a few weeks ago on the fringe of missing the College Football Playoff again.
‘It’s so hard to beat Miami,’ Cristobal said. ‘We really found a way to just not execute, not put it together.’
The development has been dramatic. For the first seven weeks of the season, Miami looked nearly flawless. Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck started strongly, and the Hurricanes defeated Notre Dame, South Florida, Florida and Florida State.
But like last year when Miami was unbeaten until November, the second half of the season has been a struggle. Two weeks ago against Louisville, Beck threw four and the Cardinals handed the Hurricanes their first loss of the season. Things seemed back on track with a 42-7 defeat of Stanford in Week 9.
Then came a trip to Dallas to play the Mustangs.
Miami looked solid out of the gate, limiting SMU’s rushing game with several chances to put this game away in the fourth quarter. A controversial missed field goal midway through the quarter went in its favor. The Hurricanes held a three-point lead were unable to run out the clock or score points on their next possession.
In the final two minutes, SMU faced a fourth down when Cristobal called timeout before the snap. However, his defenders didn’t hear a whistle and hit SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings.
Unnecessary roughness. Fifteen yards and an automatic first down.
The sequence gave the Mustangs life, and they made good with it by kicking a field goal to send the game to overtime. It was a costly mistake, yet Cristobal didn’t understand it, even though mistakes were abundant with 12 penalties committed by the Hurricanes on the day.
‘I’m not sure why that’s called in such a critical situation,’ Cristobal said. ‘We’re trying to stop play, right? It’s really loud. I imagine people should step in and prevent players from moving forward and finishing a play, but didn’t happen.’
In the extra period, the self-inflicted wounds continued. On Miami’s first possession, Beck threw an interception right to Ahmaad Moses on the goal line.
SMU needed only a field goal to win the game. The Hurricanes weren’t even able to force a kick, with the Mustangs running on all six plays, capped by a 1-yard score from TJ Harden for the game-winning touchdown.
Halloween may be over, but November continue be a challenge for Cristobal. In his four seasons at Miami, the Hurricanes are 26-7 in September and October. In the final full month of the regular season, they are 4-9 and unable to win the games to put them in the College Football Playoff field.
Now at 6-2 with a 2-2 record in the ACC, the Hurricanes need help to reach the conference championship game. An at-large berth is possible given the non-conference win against Notre Dame, but a lot will also have to break right to put them in position.
‘Got to be a grown man and face reality,’ Cristobal said. ‘We didn’t take care of business, and that’s completely on us.’