NEW YORK, NY – We are less than 24 hours from kickoff at Yankees Stadium for the Pinstripe Bowl. As tradition, today was the final press conference for the Head Coaches to address questions and concerns.
“Anyone who’s playing in the postseason has earned the opportunity to play in the postseason,” Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal opened his Q&A session. “Hard work pays off, this team has done a great job this season when dealing with adversity.” For Miami this season has been a rollercoaster of a year, starting off the year 4-0 including a big win over #23 Texas A&M before going on a two game skid involving losses to UNC and Georgia Tech before bouncing back with a double overtime win over Clemson and another overtime win over Virginia the week after. Standing at 6-2 with four games left in the regular season things had been looking up for the Hurricanes program, this was before going on a three game skid in the month of November before salvaging the season with a win over Boston College to finish the season at 6-6.
Cristobal stated that these practices in preparation for the bowl games are a great deal for players, “you can really focus on developing technique, fundamentals, and football IQ”.
One of the main storylines for this game will be the absence of Hurricanes QB Tyler Van Dyke, Van Dyke announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on November 27th and committed to Wisconsin on December 15th. Leaving Miami to announce Jaccuri Brown as the starting QB for the Pinstripe Bowl after Emory Jones went down with an injury against FSU. “The whole teams excited, he’s a tremendous competitor,” started Cristobal. Brown has taken the most QB 1 reps at practice for the past four weeks according to Cristobal, “the confidence he has is reflected in himself and his teammates.” Brown has made five appearances this season with his biggest one being against Georgia Tech where he went 14-for-19 on 136 yards and three touchdowns.
During the week, both teams had the opportunity to go to the 9/11 memorial museum. Coach Cristobal had been working at Rutgers during the 9/11 attacks with Rutgers Coach Schiano and discussed why this was the most impactful activity that the team had done this whole week. “I can tell you that players and families will be coming back to do it again.” Cristobal talked about how happy him and the team were with doing all the events offered this week including practices at Columbia University and Quest Diagnostics Training Center where the New York Giants hold their practices and training camps. “You couldn’t enjoy a more better experience of playing in a bowl game while also training and preparing at a higher level.”
Despite the game being in New York City, Coach Cristobal strongly believes that there will be a strong showing of Miami Hurricanes faithful.
The Pinstripe Bowl will take place tomorrow December 28th at 2:15pm ET, you can find the game on ESPN and on ESPN+.
