Mario Cristobal obliterated after Miami’s season is upended by SMU
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It’s a bad time to be Mario Cristobal.
Over the last 2 seasons, Miami is 14-1 in games played prior to Halloween. Miami is 1-4 in November and December games.
The 10th-ranked Hurricanes lost in excruciating fashion on Saturday, 26-20, to SMU in overtime. It was their second loss in 3 games and likely knocked them entirely out of both ACC title contention and the College Football Playoff picture.
For the second year in a row, Miami has started a season hot only to throw it away with losses to teams it wasn’t supposed to lose to. Miami closed as a 6.5-point favorite over SMU on Saturday. In the loss to Louisville last month, it was a 10.5-point favorite.
Last season, a 9-0 start was derailed in November by a 5-point loss to an unranked Georgia Tech team and a 4-point loss to an unranked Syracuse team.
SMU likely won’t be ranked on Sunday, even with the win. Louisville, which trailed a coachless Virginia Tech team at the half on Saturday, could be out of the ranking if that result holds.
When Cristobal left Oregon after the 2021 season, few in Eugene shed any tears. With each blunder, Duck fans laughed at Miami and said, “Told you so.” In Year 4 under Cristobal, Miami fans have become intimately familiar with why.
Cristobal is 28-18 at Miami now. That’s a .609 win rate. Manny Diaz, who won 58% of his games as Cristobal’s predecessor, is 14-7 (.667) as the Duke coach following a Week 10 comeback win over Clemson.
Cristobal’s issues aren’t even new. The same things — late-game management, chief among them — that put him at odds with Oregon fans are all still present.
And now, for the second consecutive season, those issues look like they have derailed a once-promising campaign.
Fans were livid on social media. Non-Miami fans were also keen to pile on.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
