What Hurricanes’ Mario Cristobal said on College GameDay in front of raucous Cal crowd

ESPN’s College GameDay descended upon Berkeley, California, on Saturday morning for the first time in the show’s 26-year history as the Cal Golden Bears host the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes for Cal’s first home Atlantic Coast Conference game.

And the Cal faithful showed up, with a crowd descending upon the GameDay set before midnight local time — more than six hours before the three-hour college football pregame show was set to begin.

During the first hour of the show, Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal, who has his team a perfect 5-0 entering the game Saturday, took to the GameDay set to talk with host Rece Davis and analysts Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit.

Amid a smattering of boos from a raucous Golden Bears crowd, here’s everything Cristobal said during his brief segment on the show.

▪ On his experience of facing Cal’s defense and coach Justin Wilcox from his time at Oregon: “Well, it starts with their head coach. This guy’s an outstanding football coach with his demeanor, with his DNA. You see it in his football team. They’re tough, they’re physical, they play sound football, they don’t make mistakes. They take the ball away, and when they do so, they capitalize.”

▪ On how the Hurricanes have responded to their success: “You start off really well with a lot to prove. ... We played hard last week [against Virginia Tech], but we lacked attention to detail, and we approached that film and studied it with humility, realizing we have to improve on the things that we left out on last week so we can achieve the goals we wanted to coach.”

▪ On the long travel and what to expect on Saturday night: “You make out of it what you want to make out of it. We came out a day early, we adjusted every day and pushed [practice] an hour back, so it wasn’t that big of a deal and it can’t be that big of a deal. What only matters here is that they’ve got a great football team. We’ve got a great football team. Let’s go kick off the ball to find out.”

▪ On what he learned about the team in the Virginia Tech game: “I think that when you look at our team, we’re kind of at the point now where we had some bad plays, we had some turnovers and we had some injuries, but there’s trust and belief that there’s no bad play or injury or tough situation that we can’t overcome, and also knowing we cannot allow ourselves to put ourselves in a situation just like we did.”

▪ On building the program the right way: “When you get to a program, you’re either there because the previous staff did a good job or they didn’t do a good job. Our starting point there was relatively low. I learned a ton under Coach Saban. I’m very grateful to him for our time, my time at Alabama, in building a roster from top to bottom where it’s deep, it’s talented enough to compete where you can rush the passer in the fourth quarter, where you can stop the run and run the ball. We happened to find ourselves an elite quarterback [in Cam Ward] as well along the way. So we’re not where we want to be yet, but the progress has been tremendous, and we’re just getting started, and we’re looking forward to a great game today.”

▪ On Cam Ward: “Cam Ward is a tough dude. He’s an alpha, and the guy doesn’t flinch. So the best part about him is if there is a bad play, he follows up with a great play, and all he cares about is winning. He couldn’t care less about accolades. He couldn’t care less about any kind of award outside of getting that ‘W’ at the end of every single game. So he’s a blessing to have, blessed to be around and he’s surrounded by some awesome young men.”

Miami Hurricanes’ College GameDay history

This is the 25th time the Hurricanes have played a game that has been at the site of College GameDay, including the 13th time as the road team (not including neutral site, conference championship or national championship games). The Hurricanes are 15-9 all-time when College GameDay is on site, including 7-5 as a true road team.

It’s the first time Miami has been part of the show since Oct. 10, 2020, when GameDay was in Clemson, South Carolina, for then-No. 1 Clemson’s eventual 42-17 win over then-No. 7 Miami.

The full breakdown of the Hurricanes’ College GameDay history entering Saturday, starting with the most recent:

▪ Oct. 10, 2020: No. 1 Clemson 42, No. 7 Miami 17 (site: Clemson)

▪ Sept. 26, 2020: No. 12 Miami 52, Florida State 10 (site: Miami)

▪ Sept. 19, 2020: No. 17 Miami 47, No. 18 Louisville 34 (site: Louisville)

▪ Aug. 24, 2019: No. 8 Florida 24, Miami 20 (site: Orlando)

▪ Dec. 2, 2017: No. 1 Clemson 38, No. 7 Miami 3 (site: Charlotte, ACC Championship)

▪ Nov. 11, 2017: No. 7 Miami 41, No. 3 Notre Dame 8 (site: Miami)

▪ Nov. 2, 2013: No. 3 Florida State 41, No. 7 Miami 14 (site: Tallahassee)

▪ Sept. 6, 2008: No. 5 Florida 26, Miami 3 (site: Gainesville)

▪ Sept. 4, 2006: No. 11 Florida State 13, No. 12 Miami 10 (site: Miami)

▪ Nov. 5, 2005: No. 5 Miami 27, No. 3 Virginia Tech 7 (site: Blacksburg, Virginia)

▪ Oct. 23, 2004: No. 3 Miami 45, NC State 31 (site: Raleigh, North Carolina)

▪ Oct. 11, 2003: No. 2 Miami 22, No. 5 Florida State 14 (site: Tallahassee)

▪ Jan. 3, 2003: No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24 (site: Tempe, Arizona, for BCS National Championship)

▪ Nov. 9, 2002: No. 2 Miami 26, Tennessee 3 (site: Knoxville, Tennessee)

▪ Sept. 7, 2002: No. 1 Miami 41, No. 6 Florida 16 (site: Gainesville)

▪ Jan. 3, 2002: No. 1 Miami 37, No. 4 Nebraska 14 (site: Pasadena, California, for BCS National Championship)

▪ Nov. 17, 2001: No. 1 Miami 59, No. 14 Syracuse 0 (site: Miami)

▪ Oct. 13, 2001: No. 1 Miami 49, No. 14 Florida State 27 (site: Tallahassee)

▪ Nov. 4, 2000: No. 3 Miami 41, No. 2 Virginia Tech 21 (site: Miami)

▪ Oct. 7, 2000: No. 7 Miami 27, No. 1 Florida State 24 (site: Miami)

▪ Nov. 13, 1999: No. 2 Virginia Tech 43, No. 19 Miami 10 (site: Blacksburg)

▪ Dec. 5, 1998: Miami 49, No. 3 UCLA 45 (site: Miami)

▪ Oct. 7, 1995: No. 1 Florida State 41, Miami 17 (site: Tallahassee)

▪ Oct. 8, 1994: No. 3 Miami 34, No. 3 Florida State 20 (site: Miami)