Miami is done talking about Notre Dame. Mario Cristobal made that clear, and now the Hurricanes are locked in on Duke as they head into the final three home games of the season.
That next step comes Saturday in Miami Gardens, where Duke arrives with its own revenge angle against Darian Mensah and Cooper Barkate. But for Cristobal, the bigger headache is the Blue Devils’ star running back and the defensive front that Manny Diaz has built around him.
Cristobal didn’t waste time laying out what makes Nate Sheppard so difficult to handle. The Miami coach called him a different kind of runner and pointed to the way he can turn a play that looks stuck into something explosive.
“No he’s very different than the rest,” Cristobal said. “He really is a different level athlete runner.
He runs with I think very underrated power. He runs through people.
He runs around people. He diffuses angles of the football.
Things that are bottled up become massive explosive plays. They do a great job shifts with their shifts and theirmotions to create light boxe to try to catch you with numbers and leverage to their advantage.
“And when hegets a crease, he goes uh he’s very dangerous out of the back field. They use him in their screen game, the passing game. A check down to him is as dangerous as any down the field throw.Um he’s one of the best players in college football.
Cristobal also made it plain that Miami has already moved past the loss at Notre Dame, even if the result still stings. The Hurricanes battled back from a 24-3 deficit before falling short, and the coach said the team responded the way he wanted to see.
“Obviously,, hard-fought game. Came up short, you know, at Notre Dame.
Proud of our guys for their resilience and toughness of finding a way to battle back down 24-3,” Cristobal said. “And, uh, just at the end of the day, just not enough.
But, u, again, credit to them, credit to Notre Dame. They, uh, they won the game and they earned it.Um, and then we quickly turned our attention to Duke.
Great football team playing at a really, really high level.uh ACC play for us is playoff football and we have a tremendous opportunity this coming Saturday.
The Hurricanes are also dealing with a bigger-picture shift around the College Football Playoff. Cristobal said he preferred 12 teams over 24, but he understands where the conference stands.
“I mean, I was always in favor of 12 as opposed to 24,” Cristobal said. “That was my personal opinion.
But I also recognize that leadership in our conference feels that 24 is a better number for the conference. And at the end of the day, you have to be a team player.
“If that’s what’s best for the conference, then I am for it. So, I feel like, you know, every year college football has some unknowns that you got to adapt and just ride with and figure it out. So that would be my stance on it.”
What Miami does have in its favor is simple: the next three games are all at home. Cristobal said he likes that stretch, especially with a noon kickoff in the mix, and he pointed to the value of settling into a steady routine over the next 21 days.
“It is good,” Cristobal said. “And I think there’s advantages to both.
I mean, sometimes it’s good to get on a plane and just shut off the noise and, you know, get away and go take on everybody all by yourself, right? So, there’s advantages to both, but this is a good time of year to be down here.
I mean, you hope we can have some noon games, right?
“To take advantage of what we have to practice in all the time. We think that’s to our favor, to our benefit.
Uh but to have a consistent regiment for for three straight weeks, you know what? it’s good if you use it the right way.
It’s good if you pour effort into it. It’s good if you hold yourself to high standards, right?
And protect your preparation and do it on an elite level. And that’s the expectation.”
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