Mario Cristobal Leads Miami into the Next Steps of A Contending Program
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No. 10 Miami is in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. This is a history with five national championships in Coral Gables, but for a time, all seemed lost for this one historically great program.
That is, until Mario Cristobal and a few expressos later brought the Hurricanes back to the national spotlight.
Now, four years in, the best ACC recruiting class four years straight, and three top ten classes later, the Hurricanes have a legitimate chance of winning the National Championship.
This was all part of Cristobal's play, who is starting to see some of the 'validation' of all the work that has been put in since his return to South Florida.
"It's validation of everything that we, I don't know, everything that we preached, everything that we set out to do, and I say the beginning of what we set out to do," Crisotbal said. "We haven't arrived anywhere yet. We have a long ways to go. But the continued progress of our program, year after year after year, and the fact that, when you look at our recruiting class, the number of players that we'll have coming back, the continued investment in the program, the trajectory.
Now, Cristobal prepares for more. The Hurricanes have tunnel vision, fully focused on No. 7 Texas A&M. The Sky is the limit for this version of a Cristobal-led team. This is not a participation award for the program; they are here to prove everyone wrong and themselves right.
"I mean, sky's the limit for us," Cristobal said. "So, you know, for us, this is a great step, but again, we're not here just to participate, right? We want to make sure that the best version of the University of Miami is out there, like it was the last four weeks. But certainly for our program, progress is always validation, and we don't want to stop that trajectory."
How to Watch: No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Texas A&M
Who: Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M
When: December 20, 2025
Where: College Station, Texas, Kyles Field
TV: ESPN (Noon Eastern)
Radio: FM 104.3 WQAM
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
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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.