Miami Hurricanes HC Mark Richt’s Syracuse Post Game Comments

On the decision to go for it on 4th and 3 and not kick a field goal in the fourth quarter…

"“The field conditions. You saw [Michael Badgley] slip at least twice on kickoffs. I told him that, too. I said, ‘Look, I’ve got all the faith in you to make that kick from that instance, but we’re just slipping too much.’ I couldn’t afford for him to slip, bang it into the line of scrimmage, they scoop and score and they’re having a party now. I couldn’t do that…. We had a 3rd and six, seven, eight or nine, whatever it was, we ran the ball and everyone booed. I don’t blame them. We didn’t get any yards. My plan was to go for on it on fourth down at that time too, and hopefully just run the ball get three or four or five yards and make it 4th and manageable, but it become 4th and 8 or 9. I’m like, ‘Forget it, we’ll punt.’ We got them down on the 2 [-yard line], which was good. Sometimes moving the field position isn’t real exciting but when you have an effective offense like they have, if you make them drive 90 or 95 yards, it’s tough."