{"id":332605,"date":"2025-09-01T06:47:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T06:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/332605\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T06:47:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T06:47:04","slug":"mario-cristobals-miami-hurricanes-take-big-step-toward-the-playoff-with-gritty-win-over-notre-dame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/332605\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario Cristobal\u2019s Miami Hurricanes take big step toward the playoff with gritty win over Notre Dame"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2013 One of the University of Miami\u2019s most anticipated seasons is only days away, yet Mario Cristobal<\/a> is thinking about his death.<\/p>\n

Not how or when it happens, but what he wants to accomplish before then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to go to the grave one day knowing that Miami is in the best place that it\u2019s ever been and that takes work,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cYou can\u2019t talk your way there. You can\u2019t post and tweet your way there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way. We still have a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday night, No. 10 Miami took a big step in the right direction with a 27-24 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium. By no means did Miami clinch a College Football Playoff<\/a> berth, but it put the Hurricanes in a great position.<\/p>\n

Last season, Miami was also in a great position. Until they collapsed in their regular-season finale at Syracuse. All the Hurricanes, who jumped to a 21-0 lead against Syracuse, needed was a win to make the ACC title game, but UM fell apart in the second half and lost 42-38.<\/p>\n

It was similar to 2017 when the \u2018Canes opened 10-0 under Mark Richt, only to fade down the stretch, losing their final three games. No playoff berth that season either.<\/p>\n

Those past failures motivate Cristobal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to repeat history in the sense of getting really good and then falling off,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cWe want to be able to sustain and achieve a high level success and then sustain it. That\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lately, Cristobal\u2019s been getting what he wants. In the past four years, Miami has ranked in the top 16 each year in both the Rivals Industry recruiting and On3 Transfer Portal rankings.<\/p>\n

That talent saved the Hurricanes on a sweltering Sunday night. Quarterback Carson Beck<\/a>, a Georgia transfer, threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns, including a remarkable one-handed catch of the year candidate by CJ Daniels<\/a> to end the first half. Daniels only became a Hurricane after previous stops at LSU and Liberty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been chasing CJ in the portal for two years,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cHe told me \u2018Coach, I\u2019m just getting started.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Defensively, star Reuben Bain<\/a> had a team-high six tackles and made an insane interception for a skill player, much less a 6-foot-3, 270-pound lineman. Bain pursed the play to the sideline for the interception, after the ball was first tipped and then ricocheted off a foot.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it was Carter Davis\u2019 foot that provided the winning margin. Davis, an FAU transfer, hit a 47-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a muddy, bloody night,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cIt was like \u2018rock \u2018em, sock \u2018em robots.\u2019 It came down to who had one more shot in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whenever Notre Dame visits Miami, the Hurricanes always get in more shots. Notre Dame lost its last six trips to Miami by an average of 28 points. The last UM-Irish meeting was in 2017, but the previous five were played in the 1980s in the old Orange Bowl, the Canes\u2019 former decrepit house of horrors for visitors.<\/p>\n

To stress the importance of the UM-Irish rivalry, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman<\/a> showed his team clips from some of those games. He was \u201ctrying to light a fire in our hearts to understand what\u2019s happened in the past,\u201d Irish wide receiver Jordan Faison<\/a> said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miami didn\u2019t want Notre Dame to forget about the past either. Anytime Notre Dame\u2019s rookie QB CJ Carr<\/a> looked toward the Miami bench, he likely saw\u00a0former UM legends Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis, Andre Johnson, Edgerrin James, Jim Kelly or coach Jimmy Johnson stalking the UM sideline.<\/p>\n

Cristobal embraces Miami\u2019s past, which includes five national championships between 1983 and 2001. But he wants to do it his way.<\/p>\n

Before he was hired at Miami in 2022, Cristobal halted Miami\u2019s hyped Turnover Chain celebration. He crushed it, like Cristobal, a former offensive lineman at UM, did to defensive linemen from 1989-92.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t like the flash. He doesn\u2019t want anything to distract the work ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bring this community together \u2026 like we all know when it comes together, the magic that comes with it,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cThat\u2019s the obsession. That\u2019s the drive. That\u2019s the determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that simple. That\u2019s the reason for coming back to Miami. That\u2019s the reason for putting everything else aside and making sure we found our way back here to do it the way it\u2019s supposed to be done, at whatever costs. Whatever it takes. So all we do is shut our mouths and work our butts off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s victory continues that work. Cristobal\u2019s increased UM\u2019s win total each season: from 5-7 to 7-5 to 10-3. Anything less than a playoff berth will not be acceptable this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to that point where we feel the reality that we have a strong trajectory and that we\u2019re going to stay relentless until we get there,\u201d Cristobal said. \u201cAnd when we get there, we\u2019re just going to keep going and get better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOpportunities are going to be right there in front of us and brother we work to a level that most people can never even fathom. We don\u2019t want a pat on the back or a good job. We don\u2019t. You know we want to see Miami win at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes did that Sunday night.\u00a0Can they continue that into December?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2013 One of the University of Miami\u2019s most anticipated seasons is only days away, yet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15516,40562,7,17043,49,48,5808],"class_list":{"0":"post-332605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-carson-beck-20-mandarin","9":"tag-cj-daniels-20-parkview","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-mario-cristobal-88-columbus","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-rueben-bain-23-miami-central"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115127703534544673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}