All the Miami Hurricanes needed to do was take a knee to close out a win against Georgia Tech on Saturday night.
Instead, Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal decided to run the ball in the waning seconds of a disastrous 23-20 loss as the Yellow Jackets — who had no timeouts left — turned the coaching blunder into a last-second miracle.
Running back Don Chaney Jr. fumbled with 26 seconds remaining, and the Yellow Jackets recovered the loose ball. They drove 74 yards in 24 seconds and scored with two seconds remaining, stunning No. 17 Miami and the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium.
“We should’ve taken a knee,” Cristobal said after the game.
Said Georgia Tech coach Brent Key: “We kind of thought they were taking a knee.”
The decision to not take a knee wasn’t the first time Cristobal made a similar coaching mistake.
While coaching Oregon in 2018, Cristobal had the chance to have his quarterback kneel down to seal a win with under a minute left during a home game against Stanford. Instead, Cristobal decided to run the ball and his tailback fumbled. Stanford recovered and kicked a game-tying field goal before winning 38-31 in overtime.
ACC Network announcer Tim Hasselbeck heavily criticized Cristobal’s decision several times — before and after Chaney’s costly fumble — during Saturday night’s broadcast.
“That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level that I have ever seen in my lifetime,” Hasselbeck said.
Georgia Tech, who was coming off a home loss to Bowling Green, was a 20-point underdog against Miami.
Cristobal left Oregon for his hometown Hurricanes after the 2021 season.
