Paul Myerberg of USA Today ranked Mario Cristobal seventh among the College Football Playoff head coaches. That is three spots ahead of Miami's 10th seed in the CFB. Cristobal has methodically built Miami into a perennial CFP contender.
Miami finished 5-7 in the inaugual season under Cristobal in 2022, 7-6 and lost in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2023 and 10-3 with a defeat to Iowa State in the 2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl. The Hurricanes finished 13th in the final 2024 CFP standings to miss earning a berth by a few places.
Cristobal has led Miami to a 32-18 record in four seasons as head coach. After Miami finished 3-5 in the ACC in each of its first two seasons with Cristobal as head coach, the Hurricanes have 6-2 records in each of the past two years in the conference.
Cristobal has Miami poised to be the best program in the ACC for the foreseeable future. Miami has signed the best class in each of the last four years. Miami has reached a higher goal in each of the past three seasons.
"7. Mario Cristobal, MiamiPaul Myerberg, USA Today
Cristobal held Miami together amid a midseason swoon to make this the finest coaching job of his career. He’s now posted a pair of 10-win seasons with the Hurricanes after doing the same over four years at Oregon. Before that, Cristobal worked a borderline miracle by posting two winning seasons at Florida International."
Is this the best coaching job of Cristobal's career
Miami outscored its last four opponents 151-43 after losing two out of three games in the middle of the season. The Hurricanes knew they had to win out to put themselves in a position to be considered for a CFP berth.
In four plus seasons at Oregon, Cristobal was 35-13. The four-year build at Miami is four games behind where he was at Oregon. Oregon finished fifth in the final 2019 rankings in the era before the 12-team CFP.
Miami plays at seventh-seeded Texas A&M on Saturday in its first-ever CFP game. Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is sixth in the CFP rankings. The Aggies are 19-6 in two seasons under Elko. Texas A&M finished 8-5 in 2024 and lost 35-31 to USC in the Las Vegas Bowl.