Miami’s Cristobal says Lucas’ title-game suspension is ‘unjustly administered’

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MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Hurricanes will be without key cornerback Xavier Lucas for the first half of the national title game. UM coach Mario Cristobal said he thinks that is unfair and voiced his displeasure with the punishment.

Xavier Lucas is suspended for the first half after being called for a targeting penalty in the second half of Miami’s win over Ole Miss in the semifinals. But Cristobal did not agree with the penalty.

“We feel it was unjustly administered,” Cristobal said Sunday, “and now it impacts the last game of the season.”

Cristobal, of course, wants his best players to be available for the national title game. But he is not the only one who thinks Lucas should be available.

“I’m trying to get that targeting reversed, like that is such bullcrap,” college football analyst David Pollack said on his podcast. “We’re going to go watch a national championship game, and a guy’s going to sit out a half of the national championship. And because it was a horse crap call — It’s a terrible call. Like, the NCAA does nothing right. It’d be a great chance to step in and fix something.”

Cristobal said he thinks the call should have been reviewed after the game. Targeting calls are already reviewed to confirm the penalty after they are called.

“We do have the ability, again, as an officiating crew and the powers that be to revisit that to give every team due process and their best ability to compete in this game,” Cristobal said.

Lucas has been a key part of Miami’s defense this year, starting 11 games. He had 45 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, eight pass deflections and one interception. Pro Football Focus gives Lucas 72.9 defensive grade and a 75.9 coverage grade; the latter is the second-best among UM cornerbacks.

The Hoosiers will test the Hurricanes’ cornerback depth. UM is already without Lucas for a half, and key cornerback Damari Brown has not played in the postseason (Brown said Saturday that his status is “up in the air”). Starter OJ Frederique Jr. has also been banged up, playing just five snaps against Ole Miss. Frederique is not listed on Miami’s injury report, and the sophomore cornerback said he was good to play.

Hetherman’s Cignetti ties

From 2019-2021, Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman was in the same position on Curt Cignetti’s staff at James Madison.

Each coach left positive impressions on the other, and now that they are facing off against each other, both have nothing but kind things to say about the other.

“To me, it’s not a surprise to see what happened, because it’s very process-driven, very detailed,” Hetherman said. “They stick with exactly what it is every day that you have to get accomplished, what you have to get done. There’s not a lot of outside factors. They block out the outside noise on things. That’s why I think he was successful at Elon, he was successful before that at IUP and James Madison.”

Cignetti said he and Hetherman don’t speak much anymore, as they are both busy with their jobs. But he said he did not want Hetherman to leave his staff.

“We actually don’t communicate a ton anymore, but I loved him,” Cignetti said. “I didn’t want him to leave. We had a great relationship. I really thought a lot of him. You’re so busy. He’s busy, I’m busy. … But we exchange texts occasionally. I’ve seen, schematically, a change. I can’t talk to his growth as a leader because I’m not with him day-to-day. But I always thought he was a great football coach. Fortunately, I had Bryant Haines, who I think is the best in the country.”

Hetherman is also close with Haines, who replaced Hetherman as James Madison’s defensive coordinator and is now Indiana’s defensive coordinator. He was also part of Hetherman’s wedding party when the UM coordinator got married.

“I think it’s fairly easy to separate,” Haines said. “Coach Hetherman is an awesome, awesome football coach, and I love him as a human being, too. But it’s pretty easy to separate work with the relationship.”

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