Joe Zagacki recaps the crushing Miami Hurricanes loss to Indiana in National Championship Game

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

The radio voice of the Miami Hurricanes - Joe Zagacki - joins the show for his takeaways of last night’s crushing defeat in the National Championship game to Indiana.

Transcript

00:00Long-time voice of the Miami Hurricanes, and he was on the call last night.

00:04He'll be on the call tonight, by the way, for Hurricanes basketball,

00:08which will be on AM 560.

00:11We will be at the game.

00:11They're honoring Coach Laranega at the game,

00:15and Joe Zagakia is going to introduce him at the time,

00:18and it'll be a whole festive thing.

00:21But let's talk football first, Joe Z.

00:24What will – I'll start with a larger question rather than actual game question.

00:31What will this 2025 season mean for the Hurricanes football program

00:39in the grand scheme of things now that it is all over?

00:43Well, I think probably that's to be decided, right?

00:47It's kind of like if you win a big game,

00:49then the next week you have to win another game to make the previous one meaningful.

00:54So I think in order to make this season as meaningful as we all feel right now,

01:00that going forward you have to continue to stack up postseason play,

01:07great seasons, 10-win seasons.

01:09They've set a standard.

01:11I'm not going to say get to the national championship every year.

01:14This new playoff system, it's damn near impossible to go back-to-back

01:22or whatever Miami did back in the 80s and 90s.

01:26But I think in order to make this one meaningful,

01:30then you stack another one on it and one behind that,

01:33and you just try to keep winning 10 games and keep your program relevant.

01:37And the more times you get into the playoff,

01:40then sooner or later you're going to break through,

01:43unless you're the Buffalo Bills.

01:46And Joe, is this a glass half full or fairytale thought?

01:51It's like Texas A&M game was one possession.

01:55You know, Ole Miss, one possession.

01:57And then you wanted to get down to a one possession game,

02:00having the ball, a minute left to win it, and you didn't win it.

02:03But it's like watching that football game lesson.

02:06I know calling it, as long as you've been a games fan

02:08and calling games games, I don't know if it feels that way,

02:11but does it feel that way where that's exactly how the game is supposed to be

02:15when you're playing top-level football?

02:17Yeah, I mean, every time you advance in the playoff,

02:20you're going to play a team that's even better.

02:23That's right.

02:24Every time, the deeper you get, the better the opponent is going to be.

02:28And Texas A&M, great opponent, tremendous game, great effort by Miami.

02:32Anyway, Ohio State, that was another level.

02:35And then Ole Miss, I thought that was another level.

02:37And last night was just an all-out slugfest.

02:40I thought it was a great game.

02:42I originally walked out of the stadium with my wife,

02:46and I thought, I felt pretty good.

02:47Like, well, that was a hell of a game.

02:50I think we did it, you know, justice personally with the call and all that stuff.

02:53So you had kind of two agendas there.

02:56But then I woke up this morning and felt really bruised, you know.

03:01So, but the game was there to be won for the University of Miami.

03:06It was a tug of war for both teams to get to their identity.

03:11And Indiana got to theirs quicker.

03:13Then Miami got to their identity.

03:15Indiana fought back to get to where they want to be.

03:20And at the end of the game, you know, you're sitting there down 27-21 with the ball,

03:26a chance to win the national championship in the West End zone.

03:30And frankly, I thought they were going to win it.

03:32I thought he was going to find a way to win the game.

03:36I thought it was going to go to Tony.

03:38When the pass left his hand, I didn't feel great about it.

03:43It just kind of seemed like it hung up there.

03:45And even when he threw it, it just seemed like there wasn't something right between he and Marion.

03:50That Marion, after the game, said he didn't look for the ball.

03:53Well, the irony is Sharp intercepts the pass.

03:56I didn't realize this one.

03:58I knew he was from Northwestern.

03:59It's also Glenn Sharp's nephew who was called for the pass interference penalty in the Ohio State game.

04:06I think at the end of the game, if I'm going to be a second-guesser,

04:09I would have liked to have seen him maybe nickel and dime a few more plays down the field

04:14to get a little bit closer and maybe see if they could get the ball somehow

04:20into the hands of Malachi Tony.

04:21And, Shannon, you were right.

04:23Every time Tony moved, you saw all these hand signals from Indiana.

04:29He moved here.

04:30He moved there.

04:30He got this signal.

04:31He got that signal.

04:32It looked like they were doing the chicken dance at a wedding.

04:36And so they were trying to surround him.

04:39But he still was over 100 yards in receiving.

04:42And I would have loved to have seen them get maybe inside the 30.

04:47I thought they could have done that with a couple shots and maybe somehow get the ball to Tony.

04:51But great game.

04:52Came down to a block punt.

04:56Missed field goal.

04:57And the other one that people are forgetting about is when Ohio State kicked the field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

05:05The play before that, Frederic has the ball in his hands and drops the interception.

05:09I thought he probably should have come down with it or could have come down with it.

05:12That's 13 points.

05:13You would agree, Joe, that ultimately the Hurricanes played well enough to win.

05:20We've been saying this.

05:20They played well enough to win despite a shaky first half from the offensive side of the football outside of two special teams' blunders.

05:29While Indiana, they were the team they were all season, just mistake-free football.

05:34Well, no, they didn't play well enough to win because they didn't win.

05:39And ultimately, the game was going to be Miami's strength and power against the execution of Indiana.

05:47And we talked about it a lot that Miami was going to have to match the execution of Indiana.

05:56And they didn't.

05:57They made too many little mistakes.

05:59Hawk referenced it earlier.

06:01Malachi Tony takes the punt inside the five.

06:04Well, three plays later, you've got a blocked punt.

06:06First series of the second half, you have a sack.

06:10You knock them down.

06:11It's a third down.

06:12They surrender their series.

06:14The first series, they surrender.

06:16They hand the ball off on third and 17, and you get a face mask.

06:20So it didn't result in any points, but it did result in field position, right?

06:25Again, it moved the ball forward.

06:26I think Miami scored after that.

06:29But it was little things like that in the game that continued to hurt Miami.

06:34The back shoulder throws, they converted.

06:37What were they, 50% on the mighty downs, third and fourth down?

06:40I think Miami was a swing and a miss on the first eight third down conversions, 0 for 8.

06:45Did you have nightmares about back shoulder throws?

06:48I did.

06:49Yeah.

06:50Well, guy made, I'll tell you, he made two great throws, and Becker made the catches.

06:55O'Connor just kind of, I don't know.

06:57Chaney, you would know better than me.

06:59It was like he was going full speed.

07:00He thought he had him covered.

07:01And then, whoops, magic trick.

07:03He comes up two yards short.

07:05He makes the catch.

07:06That seems impossible to cover because you're not, I just, I don't know how you can stop

07:14that.

07:14I mean, they couldn't, but it seems impossible to cover.

07:17You actually, the concept is to lean on them so your body is controlling their body so you

07:24can go back and you can run with them and also go back.

07:27But it's, the concept makes sense, but it's hard as hell to do in full speed.

07:31The thing about Indiana, you know, they just played, they are a remarkable story because

07:37they played the same way in every game all year.

07:41Now, they're older and they understand, what Cignetti was able to do was import a culture.

07:47When he came from James Madison, he imported everything.

07:50So that made it a little bit easier.

07:52But hell, the field goal kicker, he missed, the first kick he missed this season was his

07:59second kick of the year.

08:00And from that point on, he never missed a kick.

08:03They had 11 defensive penalties all season.

08:07And I heard you guys talk about it earlier.

08:08They almost blew the game with the offsides penalty or the false start late and the late

08:15hit on Carson Beck.

08:17That was their 12th defensive penalty of the season.

08:20That's it.

08:21So they just played at this steady level all season long.

08:24I think the first fumble they lost was early in the season.

08:27They had put the ball on the ground eight times.

08:29They recovered the rest of them.

08:31And Mendoza only threw a handful of interceptions.

08:33So they were able to play their game longer and better than Miami was able to play their

08:40game by a hair's breadth.

08:43And Joe, was there any schematic problems?

08:45I've been defending the coaches all day with Heatherman coming out with those edge pressures.

08:50Shannon Dawson, him getting into the run and trying to get the pass and get the bubble

08:55screens and saw how they were covering Malachi and stop the bubble screens.

08:59I think the chess match was beautiful.

09:01And I, I don't think they got out coached.

09:04I think that they were coaching and it was, it was two heavyweight coaching battles as

09:09well.

09:09Do you have any criticism of any decisions that were made from Mario and his staff?

09:14No, I don't.

09:15I did in the Ole Miss game, but no, I thought, you know, if you're going to go after the coaching

09:20in this game, that's low hanging fruit.

09:23That's just, you know, kind of a simple or lazy answer that this wasn't, this was both

09:29teams.

09:29These guys know each other.

09:30Well, Heatherman's on that.

09:32Heatherman was in the wedding of the offensive coordinator or vice versa.

09:36Uh, so these guys know each other.

09:38Well, um, I did think that both sides were a little bit cautious in the first half.

09:44They don't want to lose the game in the first half.

09:46Right?

09:47So I thought they were a little bit cautious.

09:48That being said, Miami was trying to get to what Miami does overpower them and see if

09:54Indiana could stand up to the physicality and run all of those stunts, uh, and, and,

09:59and, uh, run their defense as flawlessly as they have against Miami as that, you know,

10:05as they did against everybody else.

10:06And after one half, the answer was, yeah, they were able to do that.

10:10So Miami had to, to make a few more adjustments.

10:13Um, if I was to make a small criticism, they didn't have the ball.

10:16So maybe Miami could have thrown the ball a little bit more in the first half.

10:19Maybe they could have played tighter coverage to work on some of those perimeter throws.

10:23But I really think without Lucas, Miami was going to say, look, Indiana, you go to the

10:31we're going to play the same game.

10:32You play both sides.

10:33You're like, you go to the length of the field without making a mistake.

10:37We're going to take our chances, Miami on defense.

10:40We're going to hit the hell out of your quarterback.

10:42And I told you guys last week that I thought Mendoza would get hit as hard as he's ever been

10:46hit.

10:47And I think he was, I mean, they bloodied his lip there early on halftime.

10:52Did you see his halftime interview?

10:53Oh yeah.

10:55Well, listen, he was working the refs the entire first half.

10:59And so maybe Miami's plan was, let's say, let me say Miami's plan was to make him uncomfortable.

11:07However, they were going to do it.

11:08They made him try to make him uncomfortable.

11:11He responded with a unbelievable championship play ping pong into the end zone.

11:17And then, um, were you surprised they went for it in that situation?

11:21I couldn't believe it.

11:23No, I got, I was hoping he's going to kick the field goal.

11:26I was like, oh, please.

11:27He had the field goal team out there.

11:28I know he was like, he was vacillating.

11:31He didn't know what he, and then I couldn't believe that they ended up going.

11:34Yeah.

11:35He got me a little confused.

11:36He was way on the other end of the field.

11:37And I'm looking and I, I see 15, 15 is also the kicker.

11:41I thought, oh, we're going to kick the field goal.

11:43We kind of a, kind of a win for Miami on this drive.

11:46And then he sends him out there.

11:48I thought, man, this, this is the play.

11:50And, um, you could see the quarterback draw unfolding.

11:55I think it was, uh, Scott, they got a block on and he was able to kind of weave around him.

12:00He got the first down.

12:02I thought, well, he got the first down and then, damn, he lunges, you know, three yards

12:08for a touchdown through three guys.

12:09So hats off to him.

12:11It was a great play.

12:12Great call.

12:14Um, that's the way the game went.

12:16Miami answered though, right?

12:17They came right back and they answered.

12:19So, um, I thought the goal line touchdown with Mark Fletcher was a spectacular call.

12:24Tony's going this way.

12:26Fletcher's going that way.

12:27Indiana's doing the chicken dance out there.

12:29And Fletcher walks in, just needed one more play.

12:33That's all.

12:33One more play from the championship.

12:35It's heartbreaking.

12:37What a night.

12:37Don't you have to get down to the Wattsco center?

12:39It looks like you're in your home.

12:41Well, I have to get there because, um, I travel from where Crowder lives up here and,

12:47you know, the Palmetto is never friendly.

12:51It just seems a little bit late.

12:52It's three 46.

12:53What time do you want to be down there?

12:56Well, normally Hawk, I get there.

12:58Um, like by five 15, but for you guys, I'm rolling the dice.

13:04All right.

13:05Otherwise I would have had to do this from the car and I want to see your friendly faces.

13:11I appreciate you being a consummate professional.

13:13That's why we appreciate Joe's a gag.

13:15Joe.

13:15I just looked Joe.

13:17I just looked on the maps and people don't know this.

13:19Me and Joe literally live a minute from each other.

13:22You got about 50 minutes.

13:23So if you leave right now, you get there for 36.

13:26How about that?

13:27Pull the plug.

13:30We'll see you tonight.

13:31So they're honoring coach L tonight.

13:33They're going to honor coach L.

13:35They have a little ceremony before the game.

13:36And then halftime, uh, coach L and I are going to do, I'm going to ask him a couple of questions.

13:41Oh, look, you may a little live Q and a hope people listen to it.

13:45I don't know.

13:46Halftime people.

13:47Oh, it's not, it's not for the Wattsco center.

13:49It's for the radio.

13:50No, it's the Wattsco center.

13:52Oh, interesting.

13:52Yeah.

13:53Right.

13:53The Q and a will be broadcast live at the, in other words, you're going to do it on the court.

13:58That's what I'm told.

13:59Like, yeah.

13:59Center court.

14:00All right.

14:00Where do you want me to stand?

14:02Yeah.

14:03Right.

14:03Next to me.

14:03Come on out.

14:04All right.

14:05That's what I'm going to do to you.

14:06Should I, should I prepare some questions?

14:10Um, you can, but the over under on the amount of questions we get to coach L.

14:17Yeah.

14:17Five minutes.

14:18So everybody's betting like how many questions are you going to get to?

14:22And I said, well, maybe two.

14:24So we can squirt it if you want Hawk.

14:26All right.

14:26Fair enough.

14:27All right.

14:27Joe's a Gacky.

14:28You can listen to him tonight.

14:29AM five 60 Canes and FSU.

14:32We move immediately on to basketball.

14:35Canes FSU tonight from the Wattsco center on AM five 60 heat game.

14:40We'll be on FM one Oh 4.3.

14:42See you down there tonight, Joe.

14:44Okay.

14:44Thank you fellas.

14:45Bye-bye.

14:45There you go.

14:46Joe's a Gacky always enjoy talking to him better mood than I thought he would be, but

14:50he seemed to be, uh, understanding of like, like Crowder said, you got the two best teams

14:55in college football.

14:56It's a back and forth thing.

14:57Uh, you, you take, uh, you take their best shot.

15:00You give them your best shot.

15:02And someone at the end walks away.

15:04Do I sound?

15:05Cause I got a, I got a tweet.

15:06They said, they're like, Oh yeah, you're this whole half glass glass half full butterfly guy.

15:11I'm like, no, did you watch the game?

15:13That was a amazing football game.

15:16You just ended on the wrong side.

15:17If there were four minutes left, I think the Canes could have won.

15:21Cause there would be no push.

15:22There'd be no, uh, time difference.

15:24It's like, that's what football supposed to come down to.

15:27Yeah.

15:28I enjoyed last night.

15:29Didn't enjoy the outcome, but I enjoyed the actual game.

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