The Miami football program is the biggest fraud in college football according to ESPN analyst Paul Feinbaum. Feinbaum made the comments following a 45-31 Miami loss to Middle Tennessee State on Saturday. The comment from Feinbaum received some pushback from Miami fans on social media.
The Miami loss to Middle Tennessee State on Saturday was the third by the Hurricanes to a Conference USA team in the last four years. Miami lost to FIU and Louisiana Tech in 2019. The expectation was that when Miami hired Mario Cristobal last December is that the bad losses would be behind Miami.
Miami was a 25.5-point favorite versus Middle Tennessee State. Feinbaum has often been critical of the Miami football program and a polarizing figure from the Hurricanes’ fanbase. Miami has frequently been mocked nationally about the question of when will the “U” be back. Cristobal was lauded as an elite hire.
The 2017 season when the Miami football team finished 10-3 was the only time in the last 18 years that Miami reached 10 wins. Even mired in mediocrity Miami continues to receive national media attention. Miami is also frequently polarizing throughout discussions among college football fans on special media.
"“New coach, but Miami is still college football’s greatest fraud…How many times have we been to this precipice? Turnover chain, Miami is back. They’ve been back almost as many times as Texas has been back…I mean, it’s a disaster down there. We read too much into A&M struggling against Miami pulling out a win last week.This is the real Miami, and I’ll say this about Mario Cristobal. He’s a very good coach. Tyler Van Dyke was clearly not the right quarterback for this moment. I think they’ll get it turned around, but let’s quit talking about Miami being back until they actually show up for a game.”"
The big job for Mario Cristobal in the present is to get Miami focused on North Carolina after the bye week. Some speculation in the media was that Miami let the loss to Texas A&M affect them versus Middle Tennessee State. The bye week could come at a good time following consecutive losses.
Cristobal can focus on what went wrong against Middle Tennessee off and on the field. Comments like those that came from Feinbaum can be used to motivate Miami for the rest of the season. More than that, Miami needs to be self-motivated. One of the biggest battles has been getting Miami players to take pride in the program.