Miami, even after beating Florida State, insists there’s still plenty of room to improve

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — When the Miami-Florida State game was over, defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. sat on the Hurricanes’ bench with a blank stare on his face. Quarterback Carson Beck talked about how the team needs to get better. And coach Mario Cristobal was even more succinct.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Cristobal said.

All of that, it should be noted, came after a Miami win — in a rivalry game, no less.

For the second time this season, the second-ranked Hurricanes (5-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) are heading into a bye week after beating a rival — first Florida, now Florida State — and insisting that they have much to improve upon. It’s a far cry from what happened when Miami tasted some success in recent seasons, with the inevitable “Is ‘The U’ back?” question being asked and more often than not the Hurricanes stumbling in the weeks that followed.

“I’m sure we’re going to go back and watch this game and there’s just so many little things, little mistakes, little plays that are just left out there for grabs when we give them something or we give up something ourselves,” Beck said. “And I just think if we can eliminate those mistakes and stop shooting ourselves in the foot sometimes that we could be really dangerous and really, really good.”

Back at No. 2 this week in the AP Top 25, Miami has matched its highest ranking since being No. 1 for most of the 2002 season. The Hurricanes went 4-0 against in-state teams (beating South Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Florida and Florida State) and are the only team to beat three AP-ranked teams so far this season.

And Beck still sees room to grow. That might be the difference between this Miami team and others that had potential over the last two decades.

“Walking into the locker room and the team not being happy after we win like that, that’s what’s different,” defensive back Jakobe Thomas said. “These guys are dedicated. I can’t preach enough how much we work each and every day. We’re in the building early in the morning, late at night, watching tape together as a team. When I walked in and nobody was really excited after the win, I knew that we’ve got bigger goals.”

To be fair, yes, there were moments of Miami jubilation. Plenty of them.

Cristobal looked into the lens of the national television cameras and pointed out that Miami had won the “state title.” Offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa grabbed a pole with a huge “U” flag on it and tried jamming the end into the turf near midfield at Doak Campbell Stadium. Michael Irvin, after spending the game in his customary spot on the Miami sideline, was cheering with fans long after the final whistle.

Cristobal played for two of Miami’s five national championship teams. He knows what the fans want: a sixth title. It’s why he came back home when the Hurricanes asked him to leave Oregon four years ago. But even after winning in Tallahassee, he was quick to point out that if Miami wants to be mentioned with the 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001 teams, there’s still a lot — a whole lot — of work left to tackle.

“We are moving forward. We’re not going back. We’re not,” Cristobal said. “We’re taking the principles and values of all those awesome teams, the physicality of those teams, the playmaking ability, the togetherness, the brotherhood of those teams, and going forward and pushing Miami football to modern day football.”

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