One of the hardest things for Mario Cristobal to solve was the culture he inherited when he took the Miami head coaching job. Culture really gets tested when things aren't going well on the field and the Canes found themselves going into Week 13 with 5 losses already on the record. For those who have watched UM football for some time would have felt a sense of déjà vu if the team had come out flat and unmotivated in the final game of the year on the road at Boston College.
That’s not what happened though. Miami, instead, had one of its more complete games behind a balanced offensive performance and an opportunistic defensive showing. The final score was 45-20 and the differential on the field was just as wide as the score makes it seem.
The win won’t change much in terms of changing the bowl game destination nor will it make fans forget the frustrations we’ve endured these past 12 weeks.
What it does do is display the progression this program has made from a culture perspective. Again, I could pull out several examples where when the goals of the season are out of reach so goes the team’s ability to show up ready to play good football.
The current climate of collegiate sports also doesn’t help when players can casually enter the transfer portal or rest on the laurels of already having cashed NIL checks. In 10 days the aforementioned portal will open and assuredly take some guys off the Hurricane roster. It could be very easy to phone in the last game if you’re one of the kids who’s thinking about submitting their name to the portal. There are other players on the roster who will be graduating and/or going on to pursue a career in the NFL.
Regardless of what happens in a couple of weeks or with the draft, there wasn’t a single player who looked to be mentally checked out. You don’t get blowout wins in Power 5 football if the team isn’t dialed in. The guys on the field were focused and the sideline was energetic.
This season is what it is but from a big picture standpoint it’s nice to see a coach in Mario Cristobal be able to get his guys ready to go for “meaningless” games and to see the team playing through the literal final whistle of the regular season. Culture is an intangible trait but shows itself in tangible ways. This win was a tangible, cultural showing.
Hit the comments and let me know what you think!
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