Miami's Mario Cristobal Continues To Take Ownership Of One Of Worst Decisions In College Football History

Miami Hurricanes' coach Mario Cristobal can't wait for Saturday.

Then he can begin what he hopes is a career-long eraser project on what he allowed to happen Saturday in a 23-20 loss to Georgia Tech. Miami (4-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) plays at No. 12 North Carolina (5-0, 2-0 ACC) on Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC).

With a 20-17 lead and 33 seconds to play, Miami faced a third-and-10 at the Tech 30-yard line with Tech out of timeouts. All Cristobal needed to do was tell quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to take the snap and kneel once or twice. It would have been over. Instead, Cristobal allowed a handoff to running back Donald Chaney Jr., who fumbled. Kyle Kennard recovered for the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech took over with 25 seconds left at its 26-yard line.

Miami coach Mario Cristobal is trying to hold it together after an embarrassing game management goof at the end of his game against Georgia Tech on Saturday. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Getty Images)

Miami defensive coordinator Lance Guidry should have to answer to what happened next. But Cristobal has taken the brunt of the criticism. He is the head coach and makes $8 million a year in his second season with the Hurricanes.

Tech quarterback Haynes King completed a 30-yard pass to Malik Rutherford to get to the Hurricanes' 44-yard line with 10 seconds left. After an incompletion left one second left, King found Christian Leary for a 44-yard touchdown and the win. Georgia Tech came in at 2-3 on the season and as a 19-point underdog.

"I should've just stepped in and said, 'Hey, just take a knee,'" Cristobal said after the game.

Mario Cristobal Has Been Criticized Harshly Around Country

"In the history of college football, that was the worst decision," Dan Patrick said on his daily national radio talk show Monday. "It's not we. It's I. It's you. It's not the quarterback, center, running back. They're taking the play you send in. Take a knee. And it's over. Were they not good at math or at the clock?"

Patrick has a Monday segment called the best and the worst of the weekend.

"Yeah, I have to take this one off the board, it was so bad," Patrick said. "I'm watching the game, and I'm going, 'If you take a knee, maybe there's a couple of seconds left."

The Miami football program may have a hard time recovering from the exasperating loss to Georgia Tech. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Replays show Chaney's arm may have hit the ground before the fumble. That would have meant Miami retains possession. But that was not the call. Cristobal said he asked the ACC for an explanation Monday, and had not heard back.

"But that might have been one of those cases where the referee goes, 'His arm was down, but that really was a stupid call. So we're going to give it to Georgia Tech,'" Patrick said. "What are you doing?"

That was what Miami's announcing crew said as the running play was about to happen.

Miami Hurricanes Had The Game Won Against Georgia Tech

Cristobal had similar game management issues when he was the head coach at Oregon, but not quite as pronounced as his latest one. He could've ended the game and won with one simple directive. At least, he continued to own the bad decision at his weekly press conference on Monday. Interestingly, Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich attended it, and he usually does not.

"I made the wrong call," Cristobal said. "I take total ownership in not taking a knee. I take complete ownership for it."

A reporter asked what kind of lesson Cristobal and his team could learn from the game's end for the future.

Mario Cristobal Learns An 'Everlasting Lesson'

"It's an everlasting lesson, really, if you're in athletics," he said.

And athletics used to not be this way, he said. Cristobal played offensive tackle at Miami from 1989-92 and was part of two national championship teams in '89 and '91.

"I remember playing here, and you know, the only noise was really the Miami Herald's," he said. "But now, we all know our athletes and our programs are subjected to a lot of noise. You've really got to do a good job just putting that away. Because when you feed off of that, it's hard to really comprehend where your feet are and the reality of what you have to do week in and week out."

Cristobal will try to get his program to move on this week.

"It's agonizing whenever you lose a game, but that's all right," he said. "To do this job and do what we do, you've got to be a really tough person. And that's what you have in this building, 24-7. Not just myself - the people. Talking about the players. Talking about the coaches. That is a given in terms of the DNA necessary to be a Miami Hurricane. That's part of it. It needs to be. If it's not, we've got the wrong person in the building, quite honestly."

So, bring on North Carolina.

"Wipe all the pity away and go forward," Cristobal said. "That's the only choice we have."