Mario Cristobal Had Perfectly Gnarly Metaphor to Describe Miami-Notre Dame Slugfest

Liam McKeone | Sep 1, 2025

Mario Cristobal's Miami team got off to a 1-0 start with their win on Sunday. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Miami and Notre Dame duked it out on Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium in perhaps the best Week 1 game of the college football season. The No. 10-ranked Hurricanes ultimately proved victorious, upsetting the No. 6 Fighting Irish, 27-24. It was a tremendous game and Miami head coach Mario Cristobal offered up a perfect and gnarly metaphor to describe the rainy night in South Beach.

"It was a muddy, bloody night," Cristobal told reporters following his team's victory. "I mean, all night that thing was like ‘Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em' robots. We knew this game was going to be about who had one more shot in them."

As Cristobal noted in his opening statement of the presser, Sunday night was truly what college football is all about. The air was rife with the unbridled enthusiasm only college football can inspire. The play, like the field, was sloppy at points yet still led to multiple epic highlights. And it all came down to the wire in the end. A great contest to help kick off the 2025 season.

It's a huge win to start Miami's year and they'll look to win another next week when the Hurricanes play host to Bethune-Cookman. Notre Dame, meanwhile, will host Texas A&M in South Bend as the Fighting Irish's home opener.

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