Mario Cristobal crushed by fans, media for timeout usage vs. Rutgers

Mario Cristobal received some major criticism on Thursday evening as his Miami team fell 31-24 to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl.

The Hurricanes had a lead in the second half, but gave up 17 straight points to fall behind 31-17. They were not able to overcome that deficit despite a late a touchdown and an onside kick recovery.

Cristobal deployed a questionable timeout strategy at the end of both halves. He elected to not call a timeout on defense with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. Doing so would have given more time for his offense to score before the break.

That decision resulted in Miami running out of time in the red zone — with a timeout still available — with four seconds left in the first half. The Hurricanes settled for a field goal to make it 14-10 going into the break.

Then, trailing by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, Cristobal chose not to call timeouts even as Rutgers went on a clock-killing drive late in the game. The Scarlet Knights’ final offensive drive of the game took 7:12 off the clock despite gaining just 26 yards. Cristobal finally called a timeout with 2:40 remaining.

After a Rutgers field goal, Miami found itself down 31-17. The Hurricanes marched down the field and scored to make it 31-24. Then, Miami miraculously recovered the onside kick to give it a chance to tie or perhaps even win the game in regulation.

However, by that point, there was just 25 seconds remaining — and Miami still had two timeouts in its back pocket. The Hurricanes’ drive ended with a turnover-on-downs, effectively ending the game.

Cristobal’s timeout strategy was the subject of a lot of conversation after the game. Here’s some of that reaction: