Press Conference Transcripts: CFP First Round

Transcript by ASAP Sports

Head Coach Mario Cristobal

MARIO CRISTOBAL: Just found a way to continue to keep pushing through some difficult situations. The defense was off the charts the entire day. We found ourselves finally running the football and getting some chunk yardage. It took a while. We were up and down on offense.

Just a great response, turned the ball over, both by the defense, getting the ball back, and the offense going right down the field and scoring.

With that, questions, please.

Q. Mario, with Malachi, he fumbled the second to last drive and then you go back to him and he guess the touchdown. What did it mean to go back to him and for you to trust him to execute in that big moment?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: You saw the entire team just go right to him after the fumble. Everybody trusts him. A lot of the reason why we’re here today is because of his play making ability. He brings so much energy to the team. They trust him. They love him. They knew that there was going to be some more football to be played, and he was going to be a big part of the reason why we were going to have a chance to pull out the game.

Q. Last year you guys had so many issues defensively down the stretch that cost you, and then this year, this defense has been phenomenal all year but particularly today, keeping you in the game and sealing it with that interception. Did you envision all of this when you brought Corey in as the defensive coordinator?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: Well, we knew we were going to get better because what he does really caters to our personnel. We’re built to be a very aggressive front seven. Guys that are explosive, guys that have length, that have power and twitch.

He did some great work at Minnesota. They were a top-10 defense over there, and JMU, as well. Can you envision this level in year one? I think that’s hard for anybody to exactly make it look like this, but nothing surprises us because of the way our guys just work and train.

Q. Mario, for Mark Fletcher to come up big at that last drive, what do you think that means for him and what he means to the program, and he was obviously running the ball early, to lean on him there at the end?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: Yeah, Mark, 17 carries, 173 yards, man, he was such a difference in the game. What he means to the team, it was a rough year for him, you know that, with the passing of his father. He never flinched, stayed with his teammates, played the game that Saturday. That’s about a year ago.

He’s just the heart and soul of our football team. Everything he does is dedicated to his teammates getting better, to the team winning, and to see him just — he took over. He took over the ground game in a game where we were having a real tough time moving the football.

They have a really good defense. That wind was all over the place. That blew some things out, both in the passing game and on field goals. But Mark Fletcher certainly wasn’t affected by it.

Credit to the offensive line, also. They’re whipping a bunch of pressure, the plus-one concept, safety blitzes, Will fires, Nickel fires, and we just got our feet in the ground and started moving them. I think we ran for almost 200 yards on 28 carries, 6.2 a shot. Something to certainly be proud of.

Q. How proud are you of the grit that your players displayed with the adversity?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: That’s the best part. It really is. Because a year ago, as was mentioned earlier, we had a tough time stopping people on defense. Man, I felt like you’re always wondering, man, do you kick it, do you go, do you kick it, do you go, what do the analytics say, what’s the feel for the game, what kind of defense are we playing, what’s the caliber of team and their explosive capabilities?

It was one of those games where we felt, all right, we’re holding up good and we’re knocking them back. It’s going to be one of those tight back-and-forth games and field goals are going to be critical.

I guess what I’m trying to say is the confidence that they bring to us and being able to call and manage the game is off the charts, and certainly they were the difference today.

Q. If you talk about a 1-0 mentality, you gave yourself a moment after you made the CFP to enjoy it a bit. This win, how long do you enjoy this, understanding what it means, that you’ve won a game in the College Football Playoff, you’re advancing, you continue on with a chance?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: The players, I want the players to enjoy the plane ride, with their families when they get back. As a coach, man, by the time you get back to the locker room, you’re like, give me the injury report, let me know where the guys are at.

I think I’m more — man, how do you say this? I’m more inclined right now to just make sure I congratulate each and every player on our team because the guys on the scout team did an unbelievable job because you’re down numbers as the year goes on. You have a roster of 105. That’s a massive cut from the previous years.

They are just as responsible for this victory as the guys making the touchdowns and the stops and everything else.

I want to take every minute I can today to thank, congratulate and love up our players for their commitment to the University of Miami and for validating all the hard work that they have been doing since some guys three, four guys and some guys that got here in January.

We’re blessed to have guys of that caliber as human beings and as competitors to come to work every day and work with.

Q. Bryce Fitzgerald, two picks. What can you say about how he’s stepped up over the last two months coming in as the starter?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: The best part about him, he wasn’t here in January. He went to Columbus High School, okay, and he doesn’t get out until June. That’s when he joined us.

Quick study. People always wonder, how is he going to be able to catch up. He was the only one that started late. He never flinched. He spends every waking minute. It’s kind of like Malachi, just gets in there, studies it up, spends extra time doing it. When the lights come on, certain guys just kind of have it. He’s that guy. When the lights come on, he knows what to do, how to do it, and there’s no flinch in that guy at all. You don’t sense any type of freshman reservation from him.

He’s certainly a guy that we’re really, really proud of, and looking forward to more great play from him.

Q. To make the playoff is one statement. To win a game in the playoff and advance is another statement. What does this mean for the overall build of Miami football in terms of where you’re headed in the future, and do you take stock of milestone situations like this?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: Yeah, I do. I think it’s important. I think it was important, first, to get in the playoff. Then to go and win at a place like this, right, 100 plus thousand people, on the road, a team that was arguably top 2 or 3 until their last game, and to get it done in this type of environment, we needed that.

If you could draw it up how we wanted it, we wanted to go there. We wanted to come here and do it against a great football team.

What does it mean for us? Continued progress, the vision, and we’ve never altered the course despite all the challenges that come with it. But that’s part of it.

Again, really proud of our players. It’s all about them and that staff because, again, 40 plus days ago, we were lower than low and found a way to just bring a different level of energy every single day and lift each other and the program up, and here we are with a chance of keep playing, and that’s all that matters now, 1-0.

Q. Back when you played in Miami’s winning games like this with regularity, it was always guys stepping up in the moment, and today you were in a tie game with eight minutes left, and one after the other, Fletcher, Toney, Fitzgerald, they all in rapid succession stepped up and seized the moment. Your thoughts?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: Well, they probably saw Andre Johnson and Edgerrin James and Michael Irvin on the sideline and said, hey, man, those were great days but now it’s our turn.

There’s no flinch in these guys and the way that they train, the way that we train collectively as a group, the belief in each other is extremely strong. We train and wire our team to be confident and aggressive in everything that we do. When you come into an environment like this, you have to find a way to take the momentum one play at a time, and it’s probably going to be played 175, 180, 185 because they have a great team, they’re going to keep coming.

We have guys that are about that life, that are about that type of training, that truly enjoy the situation that calls for them to be at their best against great players.

A testament to them. A testament to recruiting, development, because a lot of times that gets lost in the mix with some of you guys. Just flat-out just toughness and resiliency.

Q. Coach, just talk about that postgame smooch from Michael Irvin and some of the energy that he brings to the sideline.

MARIO CRISTOBAL: That was disgusting. I mean, he’s got a lot of energy, man. I couldn’t find enough wipeys to clean myself. Mike is awesome. I remember being in high school and coming over to practice at the University of Miami and going, man, I want to be part of those dawgs. Those guys were dawgs. I signed with them, and I’m like, holy crap, these guys are good, I’ll never play here.

That guy means so much to the program, to its fan base, to our community, and then to see other guys show up, as well, and all week long to see the pride returning to so many former players, to our administration that’s worked so hard to put this all together, to our fans that traveled. I know these games are kind of tricky; they give you like five tickets and people got to be stuck up in the corner, but they traveled. They traveled well. They were felt. But yeah, the smooch, I don’t know about the smooch.

But God bless him. Glad he’s here, and glad he’s here supporting us.

Q. There was about a week’s worth of noise and debate about last teams in, first team out. What, if anything, do you feel like this result said about the committee’s decision to put you guys in as last team in?

MARIO CRISTOBAL: Look, regardless of what the result was today, they made the right decision. I said it a lot of times before. Last year we had to go to court, I felt, because we had a case, other teams had a case, but it was fuzzy, it was muddy. This year, what was fuzzy about it? We come down to the end, we had common opponents with another great football team that I’m sure would do great in the playoffs, but we did better against those common opponents and we won the head-to-head.

God forbid we should ever get away from the meaning of head-to-head because just look out there today how many guys were helped off the field? How many guys had to be carried or limp off or get on crutches? How many guys are seeing the doctor right now for competing head-to-head. Let us never, ever devalue the importance of head-to-head competition, please.

Akheem Mesidor, Rueben Bain, Keionte Scott

Given where the defense was last year and some of the struggles you went through, how good does it feel to win a game this way, and how much of a difference has Coach Hetherman made for you this season?

RUEBEN BAIN JR: I’ll speak to that since me and him was here last year.

It’s amazing what Coach Hetherman has done for not only the defense but the program, just turning us around and the monster he instills in us every day, being excited and being violent. It’s crazy for us to win this game in this kind of way and play from the first round snap to the last. We were just sitting in the locker room talking about that. From the first snap to the last, the defense came to play, and that’s the way it’s going to be, especially when you’ve got somebody like Coach Hetherman, somebody like that, coaching us every play just to come out and give our best.

Keionte, obviously to work your way back to being able to play today and playing so well, take us through the mental work, the physical work you put in over the last three, four weeks to make sure you were healthy for today’s game.

KEIONTE SCOTT: Yeah, I definitely would say, man, a lot of focus on controlling what I can control. At the end of the day, being in there with them and being around my brothers and them pushing me and telling me to keep going and stay focused, and then also previously having to go through an injury previously in ’23 and just knowing you can only focus on what you can focus on, which was getting better. I put all my attention to try and focus on getting better and getting healthy.

I want to give a huge shout-out to our strength staff, our treatment, our sports science. They did a lot of things, a lot of exercising going within the restraints of helping me get better, and I definitely feel better, and I’m excited to be back with my guys.

Akheem and Rueben, talk about what this win means for you. Here you are winning a playoff game for the first time in program history.

AKHEEM MESIDOR: I think it means a lot. Last year we had the same record, but we got snubbed. It’s not the first time I’ve been in this building. Last time I was in this building, I lost. It was great to come back, get a W.

The defense played lights out, man, D-line, linebackers, DBs. Shout out to young Bryce.

But it feels great to be able to get our first playoff win.

But honestly, it’s really on to the next. You can’t focus too much on it. You can be happy — like a 24-hour rule. Tomorrow, get back in the building, fix what we messed up, and then on to the new game plan. You can’t soak in this too much or else it’ll take you down.

You guys are playing a game before 100,000 people in a stadium where it’s really hard to win and in a game where there was no margin for error whatsoever. What did it feel like out there in the huddle, on the field throughout that game knowing this was going to be a game tight down to the end?

AKHEEM MESIDOR: We was just all locked in. We were prepared for it. As long as they don’t score, they don’t win. As long as you do your job, all 11 do their job, do your 1/11, you’ll be all right.

But in the huddle, everybody was calm. We were listening to Coach Hetherman talk, whatever he had to say about whatever he wanted to do, me and Rueben besides JT listening to his coaching. Nerves are calm inside the huddle. We’re just ready to play the next play.

For Rueben and Keionte, obviously you talked to you on Wednesday about the talk that they were having last week. Now that you had the performance that you did, how did it feel to have that performance? And Keionte, to follow up on Bryce, your thoughts on how he filled in for you over the last few weeks and continuing to make strides since you’ve gotten back and he’s had to rejig his role again.

RUEBEN BAIN JR: Well, first, like I said before, I don’t take kindly to disrespect. My little reminder on my phone. The last two weeks I was on that, I was ready to play some football. Some guys in the media said some things they shouldn’t have said, but they did, so God bless them. They were just running checks they can’t catch.

KEIONTE SCOTT: Yeah, I feel like the Bryce situation, I feel like it’s great for a younger guy to get some reps in that type of situation because now you see he shifts to more of a rotational role and still been able to produce. I think it was a great situation for us as a team to get Bryce some reps and to see him blossoming.

Speaking on what he does, he’s the type of guy, he has to be on the field in a way, and Coach Hetherman and Coach Harris are finding ways to get him on because he’s explosive and he can change the game for sure.

Keionte, they counted you out. A lot of people thought you would miss the whole season. What does it mean to be able to get back here so fast?

KEIONTE SCOTT: Yeah, I would definitely say I seen a lot of that stuff, too, and that was kind of something that fueled me. I accepted the challenge of wanting to push the limits and see how healthy I could get myself.

Yeah, I definitely was upset with the way some of the things went down towards the end of the year. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to just focus on where we’re at now.

Rueben, is it true your notebook is going to look cool this weekend? Are you going to be able to see your notebook?

RUEBEN BAIN JR: Yeah, that was primed and ready, man. Yeah, there’s some stuff in there. I’ll just say fate, for the public view. That means forget all of y’all. You can replace it with what you want to.

Akheem, you said you were calm in the huddle, but on that last drive, what are you talking about? What are you thinking? How do you stay composed? They’re marching down the field for the first time in the whole game to tie the game up trying to send it to overtime.

AKHEEM MESIDOR: You’ve just got to affect the quarterback. For us, D-line-wise, it’s affect the quarterback. Within each other, if I like a match-up, I’ll tell Rueben, let me get this side. If he likes a match-up, he’ll tell me, let me get it. Or I’ll talk to Mando, Armando, let me go inside you out here. It’s all about affecting the quarterback.

I think we did a pretty good job. At the end of the game obviously we forced him to throw a pick.

RUEBEN BAIN JR: That and just trust in one another. Coach Hetherman says it’s all about us. That’s all it is. No matter what they’re doing, they may have a little success here and there, but we got down in the red zone, buckled down, played our football, and caused a turnover.

KEIONTE SCOTT: I’ll also speak on that. I would say shout-out to Carson Beck. At the end of the day, we get in that situation a lot in practice, every Wednesday, and he stresses us out in that situation. So we’ve been there before. Carson Beck has been driving it in practice and gets to the red zone. So we’ve been through that process so many times.

It’s definitely a situation where it’s like, all right, man, we all said when it was time and we knew we were about to have to go out there again, it’s the same just like practice, two-minute drill, no time-outs, it’s on the defense.

Carson Beck, James Brockermeyer

Q. Can you describe the emotion?

CARSON BECK: Obviously an amazing feeling to be able to come into this environment and play against a really, really talented team with really, really good coaches. They had really good scheme, really good players. To be able to come in here and come out with a win, not only a win on the road but a playoff win on the road, it means everything to us and this team, and especially me.

Q. Carson, just the way the offense was going for that final drive, for Mark to get those big runs, for Malachi to get a little bit of redemption after fumbling the ball the drive before, talk about how that unfolded and the emotions of when you finally did get into the end zone?

CARSON BECK: Yeah, it was that type of game today. It was grind it out, playing against a really physical defense. We’re a really physical offense. When you’re playing smashmouth football, at the end of the day, at some point one side is either going to continue to push and push and push and then it just breaks open, and that’s what we were able to do on that last drive, and then obviously Malachi was able to make the play to get it in the end zone, and then defense does their job and gets the stop and closes it out.

I thought we played really good complementary football today and just stayed the course and just played super physical.

Q. Shannon was throwing everything at them today. I don’t know if there’s any offensive plays that weren’t run today. How was that for you guys leading up to the game and grasping that game plan, and also the difficulty of finding ways to pass the ball down the field in those conditions today?

CARSON BECK: They honestly stayed in a two-high shell for most of the game. There was a lot of quarters, and again, you have D-linemen like that, you have linebackers like that, a front seven that are really talented and can create different holes and gaps and things of that sort with their scheme, it can be difficult to throw the ball down the field.

I think we had like one or two one-on-one shots that I missed that I could have given them better balls. But at the end of the day, if they wanted to play like that, then shoot, we’re going to hand the ball off. Mark Fletcher has an unbelievable game. We have an unbelievable offensive line. Shoot, we’re behind them — I’ve said that this whole entire season; they lead the way, and today they did.

Q. Carson, about Mark, getting to know him over the course of the last year, to see him have this huge game on such a big stage, what do you think it means for him, for the team? I think Shannon was saying he’s one of the main guys on offense, one of the main leaders on offense?

CARSON BECK: Yeah, absolutely. From the jump since I’ve been at Miami, since January, he’s one of the first guys that really came up to me, introduced himself. Not only that, but one of the first guys that I really clicked with and really meshed with. He’s one of my best friends on the team. We constantly have conversations almost every single day all the way from January, February, about our goals, about what we want to do with this season and this team.

To be able to see him have that much success today, it’s very expected, obviously, seeing the way that he works each and every day, day in and day out, to be able to go out there and execute the way that he did, it’s expected, and again, I’m super happy for him to watch him be able to do that.

Q. James, you guys as an offensive line, you’ve had your share of some penalties, troubles here and there throughout the year. To come in here in front of 100,000 people and not have a false start, not have any kind of mistakes basically, how did you guys manage to accomplish that?

JAMES BROCKERMEYER: Yeah, well, we practice it every day coming up on to it. As soon as we learned we were going to play here, we knew it was a really loud environment. They’ve got great fans. We practiced it every day. We’ve got speakers 15 feet behind us in practice, and honestly, it’s probably louder than it’s going to be in the game.

We practiced it. It didn’t happen on accident. We did a good job in practice, and it carried over to the game.

Q. Carson, you’ve been in a National Championship locker room. You know what it looks like, what it feels like. Talk to us about this locker room now. How does it feel to you right now? How does it look to you?

CARSON BECK: The energy is super, super high. Obviously for our team to battle and face adversity the way that we did during that middle part of the season where we slipped up and had a couple games that didn’t go our way, the way that we responded from that just tells the whole entire story of who this team is and what this team wants.

We responded those last four games in honestly astounding fashion and proved that we should be in the playoffs, that we should have this opportunity.

Now that we have had this opportunity, we come in on the road in one of the toughest places to play, some would argue the toughest place to play in a road playoff, and come out with a victory.

Again, this locker room is everything. It’s a real brotherhood. It’s real family. There’s real connection. You can see that in the way that everybody treats each other and the way that people are excited for other people when they make plays.

Again, I’m super proud of this team, super proud of the way that we’ve worked and battled adversity and handled adversity and excited for the opportunities that are to come.

Q. I bumped into you the other day and you said coming to Miami was one of the best decisions you ever made in your life. Elaborate on the decision to come to Miami and what it is.

JAMES BROCKERMEYER: Yeah, that period of my life where I was navigating the portal and everything was really hectic and chaotic. When I got here, I really didn’t know what to expect. But the coaching staff, the players, everyone who works in nutrition, strength staff, et cetera, have all just been first class. They’re just a very high standard here.

That’s something that I’ve loved being a part of. That’s something we’re always striving to maintain. The people here are incredible. They’ve been so welcoming to me. I couldn’t be more blessed and thankful for all the people here and being part of this team. It’s been awesome, and I’m excited we get to continue playing together.

Q. For both of you guys, I’m wondering, what was last weekend like, or two weeks ago when you’re waiting to see whether you’re in or out? What was that like? Then to get this win today after not knowing whether you guys were going to make it in or not, what type of feelings come with that?

CARSON BECK: I mean, me personally, just with the way that we ended the season and the resume that we had put together, I thought that we deserved to be in the playoffs and that we could compete with anybody. I said that after we beat Pitt, that I thought that we could compete with anybody, and we had proved that and showed that.

To be given that opportunity, obviously I was super anxious leading up to the selection show and watching the selection show I was still super anxious as it got down to eight, nine, and then obviously put us in at 10.

But to have this opportunity was everything for this team. We knew that we were prepared for the moment. We knew that everything that we had been through had led up to this moment and this opportunity. To be able to come in here today and do what we did and come out with a win is everything to me and to these guys, to these coaches, to this whole entire university, and again, to have another opportunity to play and another chance to play as a team is very exciting.