Mario Cristobal opens up on how Tyler Van Dyke is handling struggles against NC State
Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke struggled yet again during the Hurricane’s 20-6 loss at NC State this past weekend. Even so, Mario Cristobal says the team’s starting quarterback is doing all he can to take it and the criticism in stride.
Cristobal discussed Van Dyke’s latest poor outing during his press conference on Monday. He credited his starter for at least taking all the criticism in stride, especially the disapprovals that hold little value.
“He’s good. He’s tough, he’s resilient,” said Cristobal.
“I don’t know how much social media affects him or people in general. That can never be a factor,” said Cristobal. “That has nothing to do with the work that needs to be done. The team itself, the areas to improve, teammates, goals – all that kind of stuff.”
In the 14-point loss in Raleigh, Van Dyke had his second straight game with no touchdowns and only picks. In total, he finished 21-38, a season low completion rate of 55.3%, against the Wolfpack for 173 yards and three interception.
Van Dyke’s dropoff has coincided with Miami’s recent 2-3 stretch, although he missed the victory over Clemson due to injury. In his last four starts, the Hurricanes have gone 1-3 as he has completed 63.3% of his passes for just over 1,000 yards and only five touchdowns compared to 10 picks.
Nevertheless, though, Van Dyke is just pushing forward according to Cristobal. He may not be performing at his best but, still, that hasn’t hindered him from trying to be at his best in every way for himself and his teammates.
“He is very determined to be the best teammate he can possibly be and the best player he can possibly be,” said Cristobal. “He’s being Tyler Van Dyke.”
Cristobal, Miami not pointing the finger at Van Dyke for passing game’s struggles
Miami has struggled in recent weeks on offense, particularly in the passing game. Despite that, Mario Cristobal isn’t ready to point the finger at Tyler Van Dyke.
Following the loss to NC State, Cristobal answered a question regarding if he’d consider a change at quarterback. Without directly answering the question, Cristobal argued that the issues go beyond Van Dyke in the passing game.
“I think it’s not just pointing a finger at Tyler,” Cristobal said. “I think, offensively, there’s things that we need to do better. The passing game certainly hasn’t been what it needs to be, especially when we started the season in such a strong manner. But it has tied into us being able to put it all together and synchronize it.”
Cristobal says that everyone needs to be better and all of the offensive issues don’t fall on Van Dyke.
“Sometimes the routes are covered, smothered a little bit. Sometimes the protection has been fairly good for the most part. They brought a lot of zero blitz today and then played a lot of coverage, drop eight. So, it’s a little bit of everything. We’ve got to coach it better. We’ve got to find ways to design a couple things that might help us. See things a little bit more clearly, but it’s a little bit of everything.”
The reality is that Miami’s offensive production is a world away from where it was at the start of the season. For Cristobal, there are several reasons for that regression and it falls on the entire team, not just the quarterback position.
“We do. It hasn’t been what it’s supposed to be or what it was early on. I’m not sure if it’s a little bit of everything but it’s on us to fix it. We haven’t done good enough,” Cristobal said.
“When I say that, we have to do it as an organization, players, coaches, scheme, design, execution, the whole thing. Sometimes it’s this, sometimes it’s that. We’re out of sync. It’s obvious. We’re not throwing the ball and catching it really well. There’s no one person to blame. It’s all of us.”