Q. Can you tell us what happened with the two timeouts when Justin [Herbert] got hurt and
what happened there with that situation and fourth down call?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Yeah, the wrong personnel was in. And when we got the personnel
straightened out, they weren't quite sure as to who was going to do what.
But we don't blame them. We take it as a coaching staff. That's on us. We had a few guys that obviously were down for the game, and then a couple guys that had cramped up during the game. So, we were trying to make the pieces work for a certain play. And I'd rather be safe than sorry in that situation and use the timeout and give us a chance to run it. But it didn't work out.
Q. Mario, how do you feel about how your defense played? It seemed like, in the first half and even third quarter, they were holding Auburn; obviously, the field goal attempts. And then it seemed they got worn down. How did you see that?
COACH CRISTOBAL: I thought they did a great job all night. I think we had our chance in
the red zone, as they did as well. You know, we had a chance to score a touchdown. But, you know, if a guy drops a ball, I say we have to coach it better. If we miss a field goal, I say we have to coach the field goal kicker better. So, you're never going to see me up here pointing fingers. We didn't capitalize in the red zone. We stopped them in the red zone as well. But, overall, I thought the defense played with a lot of energy and made a lot of great plays.
Q. So much talk, even going back to last year, about the identity of this offense and running
and power running, second half, 13 rushing yards, first downs, 6-to-1 pass. Do you feel like
you've lost a little bit of that run-first identity? As good at that front seven was, do you feel
like you lost a little of that identity in the second half?
COACH CRISTOBAL: I thought we were moving along pretty well in the first half. A lot of those plays are RPOs. So, if they're designed runs with tags on them, so if they are playing a certain coverage or if we are outnumbered, the ball is going to come out. But it wasn't a matter of the run not being called, it was the defensive look dictated the ball being spit out there. So, it ends up being more plays in the pass call than the run call.
Q. On that last touchdown when Auburn scored, it looked like [Verone] McKinley was out
there one on one with the receiver. Clearly, Auburn saw that. Why was he in that situation?
COACH CRISTOBAL: He was part of the package that was in at the time. I don't know if we
were in a nickel or a dime, but he's played really well for us. He's done a good job. And, you
know, the guy made a really good play on him.
Q. A couple game management questions here. Your second-to-last possession from around the four-minute mark to 2:30 mark, you consistently snapped the ball with good amounts of time remaining on the clock. Do you have any regrets in terms of managing the game and not draining those seconds?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Well, we tried to get the play in at about 17, being that we had
snapped the ball around five, six. But we also felt that we were going to have to score, and we felt like we had to get in a rhythm. We didn't feel that it would be a matter of taking the air out of the clock, or the air out of the ball, I should say. We felt we were going to have to take a risk.
Q. What is your game management process? Do you have someone up in the sky helping you? I think back to Stanford last year, where you had missed opportunities where you could have won a game like tonight --
COACH CRISTOBAL: No, very different scenario. There were 13 seconds on the clock that
we would have had to punt and chose not to pun and chose to go for it on second-and-two, just like two teams did that week as well. Very different scenario.
Q. Do you have someone helping you game management? How does that mechanism work
here?
COACH CRISTOBAL: No, we have a chart that we go by in terms of the clock itself and how much time we can burn or how much time the other team can burn as it relates to timeouts, as it relates to whether there's an injury, a stoppage of play, or a clock is continuing to run.
Q. In the first half after the long punt return and there was a fumble near the goal line that
they returned back, I guess, what happened in the exchange there?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Miscue right there. The mesh between the quarterback and the
running back got too tight. They bumped into each other, and the ball came out.
Q. You were out without a lot of your wide receivers tonight. Juwan [Johnson], it sounded
like he was going to play. What happened there, and what was the impact of the loss?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Juwan [Johnson] tweaked his muscle, soft tissue injury, towards the
latter part of the week. So him and -- obviously you knew about [Brenden] Schooler and Mycah [Pittman]. But Juwan was something that happened late in the week. We thought he was going to be ready go, he wasn't. And we held Cam McCormick out because he wasn't ready.
Q. Mario, your offensive line, their defensive line was the battle heading into this one, the big
three. Don't get any tackles for loss. Don't get any sacks. Yet, as far as big chunk plays
passing-wise, just the 47-yarder was early and two more 20-yarders. Did you want to take
more deep shots? Were they just not there, or did you miss some opportunities there?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Yeah, we tried to take some more. We got in six- and seven-man
protection. We tried to take some shots that were covered. Justin [Hebert] took off with a couple, also got sacked on a couple. Checked the ball down once as well. So, we were trying to take some deep shots. They were playing a lot of man coverage, and you
have to when they do so, right? Because you're outnumbered, which is also part of the reason where the passing numbers get a little bit skewed with the run numbers, because, in the RPO game, sometimes those balls got to be spit out there.
Q. Was that just, like, a knee knock there with Justin [Hebert]?
COACH CRISTOBAL: It was.
Q. Was there confusion based on whether or not he could come in after that timeout or not?
COACH CRISTOBAL: There was for a second, and then we knew he couldn't. But he just --
he happened to get back in there, and we had to pull him out. So, I was more concerned about the play being executed the right way and having everybody on the same page as it related to the four per page, and then the personnel grouping as opposed to just the fact that it was Tyler [Shough]. Tyler knows how to run that play and he could do a good job with it.
Q. Would it have been the same play if Justin [Hebert] was in?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Maybe.
Q. First quarter, you guys had almost 200 yards of offense. Just what was not clicking in the next three quarters that prevented your offense to work so well, run game and pass game?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Yeah, they did a nice job in man coverage pressing out some of the
stuff. I felt we got behind the sticks. We were in rhythm, getting some good chunks on first
down. Getting second and five, third and short, or sometimes avoiding third down altogether. I felt we got behind the sticks. Had a penalty once, got us first and 15. Just got off the schedule. We were doing a really good job in the first quarter and a little bit in the second quarter, and then, besides the one drive in the third quarter, we got behind the sticks.
Q. What was the toughest thing to prepare for when it came to their defensive line?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Well, I mean, they're really disruptive. You know where they're going
to line up, for the most part, just have to be able to block them. So, you have to create angles. You have to create situations to put those linebackers ian run/pass conflicts. But because you have to spend so much time on those downed linemen, linebackers are free to make plays more often than not. And we felt that they had two young linebackers, but two really good players. So that's where the balance was, trying to make sure you spend enough time on those big guys, don't want them to destroy the game plan. At the same time, make sure you get to your assignments to have a successful run or pass game.
Q. Mario, you understood the enormity of this game from a perception standpoint. You can't control what the conversation will now be nationally. But to how deflating this can be, you talked about how tough it is in the locker room. How do you prevent this loss from being a loss that can beat you twice, because Nevada did manage to come back in a big way against Purdue last night. And your guys are going to hear all week -- you can't control it -- but they're going to hear nationally that the Pac-12 is out of the playoff again off of one game. How do you fight that and prevent it from beating you twice?
COACH CRISTOBAL: A couple of things. I think our guys all recognize our goals are still in
front of us. Number two, I think we all recognize Nevada is a really good football team.
And the third thing is, our guys -- we have a really good group of leaders, and our program is built from the inside out. We don't hocus-pocus it. We don't build it on a poor foundation. We build it on the right stuff. So when situations like this hit, that you're prepared to bounce back and move forward.
Q. Mario, Justin [Hebert] made a throw across the field to Spencer Webb in the first half. I
guess, what was your reaction to that throw?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Well, the protection broke down a little bit. And those guys were kind
of stacking each other in the tight red and then into the end zone. Justin rolled out and he just -- he knows Spencer [Webb] has got really good hands and is a big guy. So he threw it up, and, obviously, a huge play, made a lot out of a somewhat busted play.
what happened there with that situation and fourth down call?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Yeah, the wrong personnel was in. And when we got the personnel
straightened out, they weren't quite sure as to who was going to do what.
But we don't blame them. We take it as a coaching staff. That's on us. We had a few guys that obviously were down for the game, and then a couple guys that had cramped up during the game. So, we were trying to make the pieces work for a certain play. And I'd rather be safe than sorry in that situation and use the timeout and give us a chance to run it. But it didn't work out.
Q. Mario, how do you feel about how your defense played? It seemed like, in the first half and even third quarter, they were holding Auburn; obviously, the field goal attempts. And then it seemed they got worn down. How did you see that?
COACH CRISTOBAL: I thought they did a great job all night. I think we had our chance in
the red zone, as they did as well. You know, we had a chance to score a touchdown. But, you know, if a guy drops a ball, I say we have to coach it better. If we miss a field goal, I say we have to coach the field goal kicker better. So, you're never going to see me up here pointing fingers. We didn't capitalize in the red zone. We stopped them in the red zone as well. But, overall, I thought the defense played with a lot of energy and made a lot of great plays.
Q. So much talk, even going back to last year, about the identity of this offense and running
and power running, second half, 13 rushing yards, first downs, 6-to-1 pass. Do you feel like
you've lost a little bit of that run-first identity? As good at that front seven was, do you feel
like you lost a little of that identity in the second half?
COACH CRISTOBAL: I thought we were moving along pretty well in the first half. A lot of those plays are RPOs. So, if they're designed runs with tags on them, so if they are playing a certain coverage or if we are outnumbered, the ball is going to come out. But it wasn't a matter of the run not being called, it was the defensive look dictated the ball being spit out there. So, it ends up being more plays in the pass call than the run call.
Q. On that last touchdown when Auburn scored, it looked like [Verone] McKinley was out
there one on one with the receiver. Clearly, Auburn saw that. Why was he in that situation?
COACH CRISTOBAL: He was part of the package that was in at the time. I don't know if we
were in a nickel or a dime, but he's played really well for us. He's done a good job. And, you
know, the guy made a really good play on him.
Q. A couple game management questions here. Your second-to-last possession from around the four-minute mark to 2:30 mark, you consistently snapped the ball with good amounts of time remaining on the clock. Do you have any regrets in terms of managing the game and not draining those seconds?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Well, we tried to get the play in at about 17, being that we had
snapped the ball around five, six. But we also felt that we were going to have to score, and we felt like we had to get in a rhythm. We didn't feel that it would be a matter of taking the air out of the clock, or the air out of the ball, I should say. We felt we were going to have to take a risk.
Q. What is your game management process? Do you have someone up in the sky helping you? I think back to Stanford last year, where you had missed opportunities where you could have won a game like tonight --
COACH CRISTOBAL: No, very different scenario. There were 13 seconds on the clock that
we would have had to punt and chose not to pun and chose to go for it on second-and-two, just like two teams did that week as well. Very different scenario.
Q. Do you have someone helping you game management? How does that mechanism work
here?
COACH CRISTOBAL: No, we have a chart that we go by in terms of the clock itself and how much time we can burn or how much time the other team can burn as it relates to timeouts, as it relates to whether there's an injury, a stoppage of play, or a clock is continuing to run.
Q. In the first half after the long punt return and there was a fumble near the goal line that
they returned back, I guess, what happened in the exchange there?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Miscue right there. The mesh between the quarterback and the
running back got too tight. They bumped into each other, and the ball came out.
Q. You were out without a lot of your wide receivers tonight. Juwan [Johnson], it sounded
like he was going to play. What happened there, and what was the impact of the loss?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Juwan [Johnson] tweaked his muscle, soft tissue injury, towards the
latter part of the week. So him and -- obviously you knew about [Brenden] Schooler and Mycah [Pittman]. But Juwan was something that happened late in the week. We thought he was going to be ready go, he wasn't. And we held Cam McCormick out because he wasn't ready.
Q. Mario, your offensive line, their defensive line was the battle heading into this one, the big
three. Don't get any tackles for loss. Don't get any sacks. Yet, as far as big chunk plays
passing-wise, just the 47-yarder was early and two more 20-yarders. Did you want to take
more deep shots? Were they just not there, or did you miss some opportunities there?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Yeah, we tried to take some more. We got in six- and seven-man
protection. We tried to take some shots that were covered. Justin [Hebert] took off with a couple, also got sacked on a couple. Checked the ball down once as well. So, we were trying to take some deep shots. They were playing a lot of man coverage, and you
have to when they do so, right? Because you're outnumbered, which is also part of the reason where the passing numbers get a little bit skewed with the run numbers, because, in the RPO game, sometimes those balls got to be spit out there.
Q. Was that just, like, a knee knock there with Justin [Hebert]?
COACH CRISTOBAL: It was.
Q. Was there confusion based on whether or not he could come in after that timeout or not?
COACH CRISTOBAL: There was for a second, and then we knew he couldn't. But he just --
he happened to get back in there, and we had to pull him out. So, I was more concerned about the play being executed the right way and having everybody on the same page as it related to the four per page, and then the personnel grouping as opposed to just the fact that it was Tyler [Shough]. Tyler knows how to run that play and he could do a good job with it.
Q. Would it have been the same play if Justin [Hebert] was in?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Maybe.
Q. First quarter, you guys had almost 200 yards of offense. Just what was not clicking in the next three quarters that prevented your offense to work so well, run game and pass game?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Yeah, they did a nice job in man coverage pressing out some of the
stuff. I felt we got behind the sticks. We were in rhythm, getting some good chunks on first
down. Getting second and five, third and short, or sometimes avoiding third down altogether. I felt we got behind the sticks. Had a penalty once, got us first and 15. Just got off the schedule. We were doing a really good job in the first quarter and a little bit in the second quarter, and then, besides the one drive in the third quarter, we got behind the sticks.
Q. What was the toughest thing to prepare for when it came to their defensive line?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Well, I mean, they're really disruptive. You know where they're going
to line up, for the most part, just have to be able to block them. So, you have to create angles. You have to create situations to put those linebackers ian run/pass conflicts. But because you have to spend so much time on those downed linemen, linebackers are free to make plays more often than not. And we felt that they had two young linebackers, but two really good players. So that's where the balance was, trying to make sure you spend enough time on those big guys, don't want them to destroy the game plan. At the same time, make sure you get to your assignments to have a successful run or pass game.
Q. Mario, you understood the enormity of this game from a perception standpoint. You can't control what the conversation will now be nationally. But to how deflating this can be, you talked about how tough it is in the locker room. How do you prevent this loss from being a loss that can beat you twice, because Nevada did manage to come back in a big way against Purdue last night. And your guys are going to hear all week -- you can't control it -- but they're going to hear nationally that the Pac-12 is out of the playoff again off of one game. How do you fight that and prevent it from beating you twice?
COACH CRISTOBAL: A couple of things. I think our guys all recognize our goals are still in
front of us. Number two, I think we all recognize Nevada is a really good football team.
And the third thing is, our guys -- we have a really good group of leaders, and our program is built from the inside out. We don't hocus-pocus it. We don't build it on a poor foundation. We build it on the right stuff. So when situations like this hit, that you're prepared to bounce back and move forward.
Q. Mario, Justin [Hebert] made a throw across the field to Spencer Webb in the first half. I
guess, what was your reaction to that throw?
COACH CRISTOBAL: Well, the protection broke down a little bit. And those guys were kind
of stacking each other in the tight red and then into the end zone. Justin rolled out and he just -- he knows Spencer [Webb] has got really good hands and is a big guy. So he threw it up, and, obviously, a huge play, made a lot out of a somewhat busted play.
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