Miami went to Pittsburgh needing a win to keep their ACC title and CFP hopes alive. The Hurricanes left with a 38-7 demolition of No. 24 Pitt, a 10-2 record, and a head coach telling the country that they belong in the College Football Playoff. Here are three important observations from Miami's victory over the Panthers.
1. Miami is a CFP caliber team and Mario Cristobal knows it.
Miami came into the weekend No. 12 in the CFP rankings with a resume built on wins over Notre Dame, USF, Florida, Florida State and now a ranked Pitt team. The Panthers never really had a chance. Carson Beck completed 23 of 29 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns. Miami outgained Pitt 416-229, held the Panthers to 30 rushing yards and finished with four sacks and a takeaway.
Since the overtime loss at SMU, Miami has ripped off four straight wins by an average of 27.5 points, including this 31-point beating. With what Miami has done on the field, and the committee still placing them behind Notre Dame despite head-to-head, it was nice to hear from Mario Cristobal after the game. Once the final whistle blew, Cristobal was interviewed on the field an he made his case for why the Hurricanes should be in the CFP. "This is a college football playoff team," he said. "We've all seen it, we know it. We've got great players in all phases, and we're playing great football."
Nick Saban said on ESPN this week that if Miami gets in, it will be "one of the most dangerous teams in the playoff." When your head coach is calling you a playoff team on national TV and one of the greatest coaches ever is backing that up, it is fair to say Miami has done everything it can on the field.
2. Malachi Toney is on a historic trajectory.
Against Pitt, the true freshman turned in another impressive outing. He caught 13 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown, threw a 9-yard scoring pass to tight end Elija Lofton and added yards on the ground. Toney broke Miami's freshman receiving record in the process, a mark that now sits at 970 yards.
Toney has been the focal point of Shannon Dawson's offense all season, lining up outside, in the slot, in the backfield and even at quarterback. He is a true superstar and has continued his Miami football legend status into his time playing for the Hurricanes.
If he stays in orange and green through his college career, the conversation will shift to where he fits next to names like Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson and Santana Moss.
3. No matter what happens, 20 wins in two years is impressive.
The win over Pitt gave Miami its second straight 10-win regular season and its first back-to-back double-digit win campaigns since the early 2000s, when the program was in the middle of a national title run. Last year's 10–3 team rode the best offense in the country and still watched the committee leave it out of the playoff.
This year's group has a different identity. The 2025 Hurricanes have a top-10 defense in scoring and yards per play, and they have held opponents to 120 total points across 12 games. The offense is not quite as explosive as the 2024 version, but Beck has been on a late-season heater, and the staff has leaned into a more physical identity behind Girard Pringle Jr., Mark Fletcher Jr. and a veteran offensive line.
All of that has happened while Cristobal has been under the microscope after some bad moments early in his tenure and after midseason losses this year to Louisville and at SMU. The response was four straight blowouts, a season that includes a sweep of Notre Dame, Florida and Florida State for the first time since 1987 and now a ranked road win to close the regular season.
No matter what the committee decides, 20 regular-season wins in two years, the first back-to-back 10-win seasons in more than two decades and a freshman star who already looks like the next great Miami receiver is real progress.