Postgame interaction between Mario Cristobal and FAMU HC Quinn Gray sparks controversy

Near the end of the game between Miami and FAMU, it appears as though head coach Quinn Gray wasn't too happy with Mario Cristobal.

Fans speculate about postgame interaction

With Miami already ahead 77-7, the Hurricanes kept handing the ball to reserve running back Jack Whitehouse instead of kneeling.

Whitehouse ran out of bounds with 14 seconds left, and Gray ended up calling a timeout.

Miami still refused to take a knee. Whitehouse ran again for about 10 yards, and those extra carries helped Miami break the ACC record for total yards in a game.

After the final whistle, Gray pulled Cristobal aside on the field, put a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him directly.

Cristobal later said Miami could not look at the clock or the scoreboard because the point of the night was to play the backups and keep developing the roster. Gray did not mention Cristobal by name afterward and instead said the loss showed FAMU still has work to do.

Also, this all came after a 10-minute fourth quarter was agreed on.

The bigger questions around FBS-FCS matchups

The reality of Thursday night is that Miami could have easily scored 100 points on Florida A&M. The game could have even been in the 120s if the Canes had played their starters for the entire night. But Cristobal and his staff didn't want to do that, and no self-respecting program is going to pay another school for a matchup and do that to them.

But when the younger players, the walk-ons, and the guys that practice just as hard as the starters enter the game, it feels right to continue to play the game of football. They get zero experience, memories, or anything else from chewing clock and not running any other play outside of a run up the middle. Let's play football.

Obviously, Cristobal is aware that the final score matters (within reason) and the Canes probably didn't want to put up a number that would embarrass Florida A&M. Just as a guess, it looks like 80 was that line.

If you want to criticize the idea of Power 4 schools playing FCS opponents, we can be in the crusade together. Just about every team in college football does the same thing, and it helps with funding for a lot of the FCS programs who schedule these games, but maybe it is time to retire the format and figure out a different way.

But anybody who thinks that FAMU is completely innocent, or that this is an isolated case with Miami running up the score, is just not watching college football.

My question specifically for FAMU: Why was this game scheduled with four days rest? Not to sound too soft here, but if you are going to play one of the best teams in the country, make sure that you are giving these young men a chance to compete. The Rattlers faced off against South Carolina State this past Sunday and turned around to play on Thursday. This isn't the NFL. These players shouldn't be asked to do that. And they definitely shouldn't be asked to deal with such a turnaround when the other team is bigger, faster, stronger and has more rest than you do. There must have been something that forced them to schedule in such a way, because otherwise it's really just dangerous.

And, to loop it into the topic of sportsmanship, the circumstances gave FAMU absolutely no shot at looking presentable on Thursday night. Of course the Rattlers wanted the game to end. We saw a team that was put in a position to fail, a program that increased those odds with the schedule and now the coach is mad because the other team was still running plays with freshmen and walk-ons? Give me a break.

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