Mario Cristobal on Carson Beck: ‘I can’t say enough great things about him’
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Mario Cristobal is a Miami guy who played there and now has the Hurricanes one victory from a national title.
He got a little help from his transfer quarterback, Carson Beck, who came to Miami from Georgia and was the hero in Thursday night’s Fiesta Bowl with his 3-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds left that lifted the Canes to a thrilling 31-27 victory over Ole Miss.
Miami will play either Indiana or Oregon on Jan. 19, in its own backyard, and Cristobal wanted to give credit to his signal-caller.
“That’s a perfect example of a guy who’s hungry, who’s driven, who’s a great human being,” Mario Cristobal told ESPN right after it was all over. “I can’t say enough great things about him.”
He had great things to say about his whole team, too, which overcame a late deficit after Trinidad Chambliss had rallied Ole Miss to a 27-24 lead.
“It’s the big man upstairs. Always, always, always. Secondly, I want to give a ton of credit to our players,” Cristobal said. “I can’t tell you how many of our players were sick or had the flu. But we gotta get focused one more time.”
It was truly anybody’s game going down to the wire on Thursday night in Glendale, with everything on the line. Ole Miss was trying to keep its unlikely run to the title game alive in the aftermath of the departure of Lane Kiffin. Meanwhile, Miami was trying to become a No. 10 seed that beat 3 straight higher-seeded teams, including defending national champion Ohio State, on its way to playing for everything in its own backyard.
That national title game will take place in Miami’s home stadium on Jan. 19, with top seed and undefeated Indiana facing Big Ten rival Oregon on Friday night in Atlanta for the other spot in the game.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
