The McDaniel/Cristobal strategy difference that has emerged. Examining that aspect with UM

When you’re coaching in the same town as swashbuckler, risk-taker Mike McDaniel — and you attempt five goals and then punt when you’re trailing by eight near midfield late in the game — you’re going to look as conservative as Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis did on Saturday at Texas A&M.

You’re going to look even more conservative, as Cristobal did, when your team doesn’t score a touchdown for the first time in 76 regular season contests.

Were Cristobal and Gattis too conservative on Saturday in College Station? Probably.

But the bigger issue was pace and clock management — an area where blame is shared among players and coaches.

We’ll get to the ‘was-Miami-too-conservative’ question in a minute.

The big “game management” issue on Saturday was the Hurricanes allowing way too much time to slip off the clock between plays during their drive that ended with a fourth-and-24 punt at their own 39 with 3:09 left and the Canes down 17-9. (It was originally fourth-and-19 from the 44 before UM committed an illegal formation penalty.)

On that possession, there were 34 seconds between plays in one instance, 33 on another, 43 on another.

Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke often got his team to the line fairly quickly but took too much when he got there. Clock management simply must be better, with Van Dyke, his teammates and Gattis all sharing responsibility for that, and Cristobal needing to reiterate the importance of not frittering away valuable time.

And speaking of timing... With UM’s offense struggling so badly on Saturday, why didn’t UM go up-tempo at all, simply to try something new?

Asked if he would like to go back to playing more up-tempo offense with no huddling, Van Dyke said he’s all for that if “it’s the right time to push the gas and go up-tempo.”

He said he trusts Gattis and said Gattis has an up-tempo component to his offense when coaches want to use it. “He’s been great calling plays,” Van Dyke said.

As for whether Cristobal and Gattis are too conservative, here are a few points to consider:

▪ The big second guess was going for a field goal on fourth-and-4 at the A&M 16 with 8:32 left. Andres Borregales’ 34-yard field goal cut the deficit to 17-9.

I would have gone for it — because it was too risky to assume you will get the ball back, score a touchdown and convert a two-point conversion — but I don’t consider the decision an egregious mistake.

Some might question punting, down eight, with 3:20 left. But context is needed here; before the penalty, Miami had a fourth-and-19 on its 44, its defense had played well, and the chances of a conversion were slim. A case could have been made to go for it, but punting wasn’t outrageous.

▪ The other field-goal attempts came earlier on a fouth-and-4 at the A&M 10 (Borregales hit from 28), a fourth-and-goal at the A&M 4 (Borregales hit from 22), and two misses — a fourth-and-9 at the A&M 31 and a fourth-and-16 at the A&M 18 (that was one blocked).

The most questionable of those decisions was trying the 22-yarder with UM at the Aggies 4-yard-line and down 17-3 and 4:04 left in the third. On the previous play, UM surprisingly ran the ball on a third-and-6 from the A&M four, with Jaylan Knighton picking up 2 yards.

Why not pass there?

“They came out in a three-down defense, so they had eight guys in coverage,” Gattis explained. “We ran the ball great all night. On the first opportunity there, we had an opportunity to crease it for a 10-yard run and we kind of fell over, but we felt like we had the numbers in the run game.

“Then we had a third-and-6 and our thought process is that a third down isn’t always a third down because any time we can be in a fourth-and-2 or less, we are in a go for it scenario.

“That third down is kind of a two-down call to see if you can crease a run. We had a missed assignment on a backside receiver that didn’t push-crack to go get the safety. The safety filled the hole, but we also have to stay on our feet.”

Here’s the broader point: Taken individually, each of those handful of ‘conservative’ decisions can be justified. But collectively, they leave the impression that this staff wants to play it safe.

And anything semiconservative that Cristobal and Gattis do will look ultra-conservative when Miami loses, and when McDaniel is used as a comparison.

Against Baltimore on Sunday, McDaniel went for a first down in the first half on a fourth-and-1 from Miami’s 34-yard line and again on a fourth-and-1 from the Dolphins’ 45, converting both.

▪ Not all fourth down attempts are created equal, but it’s notable that of every FBS team that has at least one loss this season, only Texas A&M and Iowa have gone for it less on fourth down than UM, which has tried twice and failed both times, including Van Dyke’s incomplete pass on fourth-and-4 from the A&M 40 with 30 seconds left.

▪ At Oregon, Cristobal’s 2018 and 2019 teams went for it 28 and 25 times on fourth down, ranking in the top 40 in the country in this category.

Those numbers dipped dramatically in his final two seasons. In 2020, Oregon went for it on fourth down six times in seven games (converting three) in a 4-3 season; only Miami (Ohio), Maryland and Ohio attempted fewer fourth downs. But the big caveat is Oregon played fewer games in that COVID season than a lot of FBS teams.

Last season, Oregon went for it on 19 fourth downs (making 9); 93 teams went for it more on fourth down. But only 12 teams punted less and Oregon tried just 16 field goals.

So Cristobal has not been super conservative throughout his career. But he doesn’t compare to McDaniel in aggressiveness and risk-taking.

Judged against McDaniel — and with the benefit of hindsight — Saturday’s decisions will be heavily scrutinized. Cristobal and his staff have done so much right — in recruiting, instilling discipline, raising the quality of play of UM’s defense and offensive line.

But here’s hoping that Cristobal and Gattis develop some of McDaniel’s boldness.

THIS AND THAT

▪ With UM splitting snaps among six defensive tackles, Leonard Taylor’s snaps remain around the same they were last season. He played 17 snaps against Texas A&M; Darrell Jackson (25), Jared Harrison Hunte (21) and Jordan Miller (21) played a bit more.

Jacob Lichtenstein (four snaps) and Antonio Moultrie (three) played less.

Asked if he’s understanding about his playing time because of UM’s depth at the position, Taylor said: “It is what is, as long as I get in and do what I do to help the team.”

▪ ESPN’s Todd McShay, on Van Dyke: “He needs to find better touch and timing on short-to-intermediate throws. He flashes the ability to lead receivers to yards after the catch when he is in rhythm, but he is off target a little too much when he has to tempo his throws.

“He has to avoid getting stuck on his primary read. It happened against Southern Miss on a second-quarter interception on fourth-and-4; he led the safety into the pick with his eyes. And if he had read it out and thrown to the receiver’s back shoulder, it could have been a touchdown.”

▪ What has changed in the transition to a new offensive line coach (Alex Mirabal) and Cristobal, a former offensive lineman?

“We play with physicality,” Jalen Rivers said Tuesday. “We had certaint technique things they wanted us to focus on more.”

▪ Former UM punter Brian Monroe, who does excellent work on WQAM talk shows, is launching a Hurricanes podcast with former Canes standsouts Brett Romberg and DJ Williams. All episodes of the Out the Huddle podcast will be posted on Dyme LyFe Youtube’s page.

▪ Chris Cotter and Mark Herzlich will call the Middle Tennessee-UM game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ACC Network. That crew also worked UM’s game against Southern Mississippi.