Mario Cristobal breaks down the "reality" of the Miami Hurricanes' deserving of making the College Football Playoffs.
The Miami Hurricanes continue to face discrimination as their College Football Playoff hopes are in the hands of the Selection Committee. The program finished and remained at 12th in the latest rankings, despite beating the Pitt Panthers to close the regular season with a final score of 38-7.
The biggest change on the list was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropping from ninth to 10th. The Hurricanes faced them in week one of the regular season and claimed the victory, with a final score of 27-24. Despite what the results show, the South Florida program led from beginning to end, nearly completely dominating until a fourth-quarter slip-up occurred. Regardless, the Hurricanes won, but the team's only two losses against the Louisville Cardinals and SMU Mustangs have shadowed it in the eyes of the Selection Committee.
However, they both finished the season 10-2.
On Signing Day, as Mario Cristobal welcomed all the upcoming talent, he also shared his thoughts on the latest rankings:
"Let's call it what it is, in the history of the CFP, there's never been a situation where two Power Five teams with the same record that had a head-to-head, never has the loser advanced and the winner been kept behind," he said. "When you look at the reality of the most important thing in all of sports, and anything competitive in the world, head-to-head, that determines a winner and a loser. Miami did a great job at game control in settling that on the field and in a fashion where I could rattle off so many statistics. When you look at what we did that game, holding a Heisman candidate [junior running back Jeremiyah Love] to 30 [rushing] yards, having such a dominant performance up front that relegated a very powerful and a very talented offensive line to their worst grades that they've ever had. You look at common opponents on top of the head-to-head, where we were much more convincing in three of the four common opponents that we had. I think it very clearly speaks for what we have done and the totality of our resume. I think also, we talked about common opponents, not many people talk about our out-of-conference schedule. Who in the country wanted to play our out-of-conference schedule when it came out, right? It was Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State, [and] USF, which were all at some point in time ranked top 10, top 20. We went undefeated through that schedule. We're playing our best football, have been playing our best football for the past month, margin of victory 28 points. That word, 'totality,' keeps coming up and I think of what goes into a resume, right? We won 10 games, just like we're being compared to, obviously, Notre Dame in a lot of different forms and fashion, but the totality of our resume got just a strong or stronger than anybody else. After their first two losses, their resume got stronger, but when you break it down, those 10 games, two of them were against group-of-five opponents and of the other eight games, six of those games were against defenses that were ranked 105 to 127. I think when you start looking at the true facts surrounding a resume, and how a resume is actually built, I think all of those things will be taken into account. I respectfully will always provide any and all information to whoever it is necessary, so we can have a fair and honest judgment and decision on what is the reality that we're the best and most deserving team."
Mario Cristobal Press Conference | National Singing Day | 12.3.25
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Cristobal was also "flattered" by the overwhelming support the Hurricanes have gotten from all over the country, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio:
"I'm a Florida Gator, but if the University of Miami gets screwed out of the College Football Playoffs, after going 10-2 and beating Notre Dame, the whole thing should be scrapped," the former Florida Senator said in a press conference after a Cabinet meeting.
Cristobal alluded to the "reality" of the situation when a state rival is speaking on the South Florida program's behalf.
"We really appreciate that," he added. "It just adds to our confidence that what's right is right and eventually, that'll be the case."
After the latest rankings were revealed on Tuesday night, Chairman Hunter Yuracheck mentioned that nothing was set in terms of the 12-team bracket:
"Following the championship games, we will re-rank the top-25 teams and see where they fall," he said.
The final decision on who makes the College Football Playoffs is on Dec. 7th. The list could get interesting depending on what happens in the SEC championship game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide, who are ranked ninth.
It's not completely over for the Hurricanes, but once again, the team's fate is not in their hands.
More Miami Hurricanes News:
- "Hurricanes Survive Hoyas' Second-Half Surge In ESPN Tournament"
- "Hurricanes' Self-Inflicted Errors Result In Cougars' Victory"
- "Hurricanes' Mark Fletcher Jr. Reveals Motivation Behind Season Success"
- "Hurricanes Failed Opportunity Against Reigning Champion Gators"