A West Coast Trip and College Football Chaos Keep Miami Evenkill Ahead of Season Opener
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Balance and going 1-0 every day is the only mindset the Miami Hurricanes and Mario Cristobal have entering the 2026 season.
After reaching the National Championship game and finishing their last game at home, the Hurricanes kickstart the 2026 season on the road with a West Coast trip that everyone is still getting used to in the ACC.
The Hurricanes open the season against the Stanford Cardinal (1-0) in a massive conference matchup.
Moreover, it is a Friday night matchup, something that Cristobal has been against for some time. He is a recruiter at his core, but he will do what needs to be done as he is called to do.
"If you analyze any schedule, any year, it has its challenges, right? And some pop up," Cristobal said during Monday's press conference. "I mean, last year, how many times were delayed, forced to warm up? So, I think things always pop up, and they're only a big deal if you make a big deal of it as a staff. The academic side, credit to our administration, credit to our academic services.
"Jessica Lopez and her team-they're awesome. They got way ahead of this in the summer war. Our guys have been doing everything possible to make sure that we're in a good place when we leave and when we come back because we wanted to be very clear for everyone when we hop on that plane. All focus is on the University of Miami playing its best football against Stanford. It's kind of like distractions, right? They're distractions if you make them distractions. We've taken this as an opportunity to really challenge ourselves to do our very best on the field."
Furthermore, this West Coast trip is easier this time around than before; instead of coming in the middle of the season, it comes at the start. Getting it out of the way right away.
"I mean, the bottom line is, let's go play football, and we'll find out a lot about ourselves, right? But when you're planning this stuff, I think whether it was at the beginning or whether it was later in the season, you have to approach it in the same manner in terms of when you leave, how you do things, where you practice, what times you practice, reset your clock. But all focus is on making sure we do everything humanly possible to be 1-0."
However, as much as Cristobal and the college football world try to focus on week one, an underlying issue could change everything in the sport. Many players are getting TROs (temporary restraining orders) to return for a fifth season of college football.
Former Hurricanes tight end Alex Bauman is one of many players who could have a case, compared to the rest, for this to work.
Miami also has the chance to do this, with some of their key players from last season being waived after getting drafted in the NFL.
Nevertheless, this issue doesn't concern Cristobal because of the 1-0 mindset. He isn't planning on changing anything about his process. He can control only so much and has to let the cards fall where they may.
"Oh, probably in the simplest way we possibly can; every ounce of focus and time just poured into our players and our preparation for Stanford," Cristobal said about the chaos around college sports. "That simple. There, there really is no time in the day. Think about it, they played on Saturday, we played on Friday, so it is shorter week. You know, there's really no time, and that stuff we can't control anyway. So it really fits our processes and our approach. So that's our best way of approaching it."
Everyone in the program is dialed in, letting nothing distract them from their ultimate goal.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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