Mario Cristobal is gearing up for his fourth season back home in Coral Gables; the quest to turn his alma mater from a long-time pretender and back into a contender in full-force as Miami’s gets another primetime, big time moment to shock the world when Notre Dame invades HardRock Stadium on August 31st.
Under normal circumstances, an informative breakdown and 2025 expectations would follow, but as has been proven time and again, there is no normal in the college football stratosphere when talking about the one-of-a-kind University of Miami—forever one of the most-polarizing programs in the sport, regardless of how successful ‘The U’ currently is, or isn’t.
The plot continues to thicken when taking into account not just the Hurricanes’ harshest critics—but it’s diverse fan base as well; one of the most-unique in the game, as the face of the program has never been (and will never be) that rah-rah student body on a massive campus—football is the biggest show in some podunk college town.
Big as the brand has become nationally over the years, UM remains a small private school nestled away in suburb of a large, diverse, international and metropolitan city; void of the pageantry and blind-loyalty that traditional power college football programs experience from their often cultish fan bases.
Miami isn’t even really a sports town; it’s a events-driven metropolis loaded with countless distractions and other ways to spend one’s entertainment dollar—so if the output and recent success aren’t there, the eyeballs and attention will shift off football and onto a different shiny new toy.
Proof? Look no further than this southernmost part of the country becoming a hockey town after the Miami Heat cooled off and the Florida Panthers just captured back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
The current 12,913 undergrads on campus don’t live and die with this program.
The core of Miami’s base are locals and transplants who’ve adopted the Hurricanes like a pro franchise, opposed to the more-traditional alumni and college program dynamic seen nationwide.
While none of these variables are new news, this history lesson always bears repeating when the narrative gets hijacked and the Miami-hating mental-midgets start piling back on with their played out material; be it digs about zero ACC titles, a quarter-century long national championship drought, or petty knocks on home attendance as fans don’t show out in droves when a Wake Forest rolls in or a noon kickoff.
It’s again the time of year where the record needs to be straight regarding the pre-Cristobal, long-running, low-rent, lazy-hire, poorly-funded era of Miami football—in contrast to all that’s taken place since his hiring in December 2021.
Whatever went down after the collapse of Larry Coker and the 16 years between the hiring of Miami’s third new head coach over a five-year span—it’s a different conversation entirely as Cristobal is the first big-money, established head coach the program has ever invested in.
Cristobal only agreed to return home when his alma mater finally got out of the college football dark ages and agreed to a massive NIL budget, big money for assistants and the type of financial investment in football that was meaningful enough for him to leave everything he’d been building at cash-flush Oregon half a decade prior.
Translation; the hat-in-hand era of Hurricanes football has only been underway for three years—not the two decades that the critics love to harp on—and by those metrics things are absolutely trending upward or Cristobal and Miami.
UGLY END TO SEASON SPARKS BIG CHANGE
When looking at the program through this more-accurate lens, it makes it easier to measure the logical progress ‘The U’ has made—starting with a 2022 season where Cristobal had to completely gut much of a busted-culture roster that Manny Diaz left behind.
More setbacks followed in year two, starting with an injured, mojo-less, off-brand quarterback who would up tanking—leading to Miami reeling in a culture-changing, alpha dog gunslinger who immediately changed the room and led the Canes to the program’s second double-digit win season since 2004.
They absolutely broke the mold with Cam Ward, but as exciting as that 9-0 start was last fall, the legacy of 2024 will be a 1-3 skid to end the season—undefeated at home rendered meaningless after embarrassing losses at Georgia Tech and Syracuse hijacked the season.
Miami went from being on track for an ACC title game spot and a berth in the College Football Playoffs—to a third-tier bowl game where its star quarterback played the first half and his back-up face-planted in the second; to the point more off-season change was inevitable as Cristobal had to rebuild a defense and find a new starter.
Despite these authentic and tangible measures to better Miami as a program under Cristobal—the improved recruiting efforts, the transfer portal success, beefing up the trenches, or landing top-flight one-year quarterback options—the fact that the Hurricanes still came up short due to a porous defense that tanked a world-class offense; perception is reality and it was another November collapse as this program again couldn’t deliver in the clutch.
Unfortunately the disappointment of a dream season fast turning into a nightmare; it has old muscle memory kicking back in as a frustrated, bitter and butt-hurt fan base re-takes on that same-shit-different-year energy—to a point where entitlement, stubbornness and fragility rooted in embarrassment renders them unable to focus on all good being done to learn from and rectify last year’s mistakes.
While fans immediately went into sulk-mode, Cristobal continued his tireless efforts to get this thing on track for year four—starting with sending coordinator Lance Guidry packing—as there was no coming back from the most-abysmal defensive showing Miami has seen since Mark D’Onofrio had his cornerbacks playing nine yards off receivers for five years during the painful Al Golden era of Hurricanes football.
Cristobal plucked Corey Hetherman from Minnesota; the Gophers with a Top Five-ranked defense last season—getting it done in the Big Ten which much less talent than Miami has on it’s roster—while Canes alum Damione Lewis joins Jason Taylor coaching up the defensive line and both Will Harris and Zac Etheridge take over what was painfully-bad secondary last fall.
A revamped defensive staff and new philosophy are half the battle; the other half was hitting the portal hard to reel in the right-fit players to beef up every position that was a full-blown liability last fall—the message crystal clear that while a high-flying offense sells tickets, it’s defense that will forever be the key to winning championships.
MEDIA BIAS PAINTS BOGUS PICTURE
Righting wrongs, addressing problems and working overtime to strengthen the weakest links—these are positives that need to be accentuated regarding what Cristobal had done this off-season—yet the narrative always seems to err towards the negative, both by Miami supporters or those with an axe to grind as the Hurricanes remain Public Enemy #1 to the masses.
Look no further than the storyline surrounding quarterback Carson Beck since he made the jump to Miami soon after the College Football Playoffs wrapped in January and the Georgia Bulldogs were knocked out by Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.
Despite reports that Georgia worked to retain his services—while SEC rivals Alabama made a late pitch for the long-time Bulldogs gunslinger—Beck still chose Miami and the minute he did, the script was flipped, as well; the gall to leave the biggest conference in the sport for the lowly ACC.
I’d be a trip to see a parallel universe where Beck landed at one of these two powerhouse SEC program, as he’d be the biggest story in college football entering 2025 if doing so.
The full-fledged “comeback” angle would be sold as the sports media talked up a sixth-year quarterback seeking redemption—highlighting how he’d have the tools this year to get back to his 2023 form, reclaiming his throne.
Georgia underperforming last year; that would be the headline—as articles would fast-remind fans about a 3,941-yard, 24-touchdown and six-interception season in his first year as a starter; explaining that the dip in stats last fall was due to the Bulldogs’ sub-par offensive line play, a rushing attack that was ranked 202nd overall and the fact that Georgia receivers led the NCAA in drops.
The media would fast take the blame off of Beck as they case-build about a bounce-back year under different circumstances this fall; reminding everybody that Beck was 24-3 as a starter and the projected #1 pick as the first quarterback off the board, courtesy of a world-beating 2023 season—a feat that Ward wound up up accomplishing after Miami helped elevate his game and profile, paving way for him to be the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Instead of connecting those dots as part of Beck’s rebrand story, we get a sensationalized TMZ approach to sports reporting—non-stop talk about an influencer ex-girlfriend, a stolen Lamborghini and an obsession regarding a reported $4-million pay day—as if big money isn’t getting thrown around all over college football the past few years.
Duke retained the services of former Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah back in December; a reported two-year, $8-million payday for a one-year starter who went 9-4 in the AAC; losing to every ranked team the Green Wave played—beating up on Rice, North Texas, UAB, Charlotte, Temple and Southeastern Louisiana, before skipping a bowl game against Florida as he bailed for Durham.
The news cycle around Mensah was dead within days, while college football pundits are still pushing summer click-bait about Beck’s payday—most-recently talking about the deal being worth up to $6-million—yet burying the lead that he’d have to win the ACC, reach the CFP or win a national championship to see that extra cash.
Where is the conversation about Beck no longer playing behind what was a pretty sub-par offensive line at Georgia last fall—or no longer running for his life against SEC defenses?
What about the fact he’ll now face mostly ACC competition this year—playing behind arguably one of the best line’s in the country at Miami, as well as the three-headed monster the Hurricanes have at running back?
Won’t all of this logically allow Shannon Dawson to call a more-balanced offense this fall—as Beck won’t need to wear an “S” on his chest like Ward did last season—weekly superhero efforts no longer required out of a quarterback to overcome a brutally-bad defense?
As obvious as it should be to draw all these conclusions, the singularly-focused Hurricanes-hater can only obsess about Ward—the same quarterback whose efforts they massively downplayed this time last year—while pretending all these defensive upgrades didn’t just take place and calling for Miami to take a measured step back in 2025.
One of the colder takes this off-season; former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell—as anti-Miami as they come—calling for a total collapse and predicting the Hurricanes finish below .500 and miss a bowl game, while ranking Beck seventh on his CBS Sports list of Top 10 Returning Quarterbacks this season.
As anti-Beck as the commentary has been, the lack of respect for Cristobal has also hit another level.
Replace his Hurricanes with some SEC or Big Ten program that struggled on one side of the ball last year—yet made some solid and massive off-season moves regarding coaching and player personnel; that coach would be lauded for attacking the problem and doing everything that needed to be done to set his program on a better track the following season.
Instead, Cristobal and Miami remain a punchline; to a point where those in-the-know are fast re-adapting that us-against-the-world attitude that served well in the ’80s, ’90s and early ’00s—as it’s the only way to make peace with the bias or injustice that not only comes from rival fans, but the college football community as a whole.
They hate us ’cause they ain’t us.
WRITING ON THE WALL EARLY LAST FALL
Miami posts thrilling comebacks against Virginia Tech and Cal last season?
The media loses its collective mind regarding an overturned game-ending ‘hail mary’ against the Hokies or booth-initiated targeting call that was also overturned late on the road against the Bears; supposed professionals unable to mask their bias on air—selectively-outraged the point they’re blaming officials and the ACC for some in conference home-cooking and bending over backwards to keep the Canes undefeated.
There was more collective venom for those two overturned 2024 calls that went Miami’s way than there ever was a late, bogus flag in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl—a night the Hurricanes saw a bid for back-to-back national championships and 34-game win-streak ended on one of the more-controversial pass interference calls in modern history.
Same for an official’s whiff on a late fumble against Georgia Tech in 2023. Outsiders couldn’t have cared less that refs got the call wrong; they were too busy mocking Cristobal for not taking a knee to end the game.
Yes, a boneheaded move—but the gaffe would’ve been meaningless had the right non-fumble call been made; Miami breathing a sigh of relief as it lined up to run the clock out on fourth down, capping off a thrilling comeback and remaining undefeated.
The college football pundits love talking-up a theoretical return to glory; tired lines about how much better college football is when Miami is a contender—so as long as it doesn’t come to fruition and the Canes are stumbling down the stretch, wallowing in annual 7-6 seasons.
The minute it looks like this program is getting a pulse again; non-stop efforts are made to disparage any comeback or to downplay any steps forward.
This is the same contingent who loves to prematurely talk-up Miami being ‘back’ after a few pedestrian wins every September—as any overhype sets the stage to tear the Hurricanes down after a few October losses.
Again, all the ‘back’ chatter never comes from the inside; it’s external noise put out there by national media to rile-up all those who shudder at the thought of a Miami resurgence—which then leads to the mid-season pile-on when the Canes stumble, as it’s makes for engaging content for those who aren’t all about ‘The U’.
Jimmy Johnson said it in the 30-For-30 ‘U’ documentary in 2009; Miami is “back” when it is consistently competing for—and winning—national championships again.
Straight from the horse’s mouth; Any other opinion on the matter isn’t U-approved.
REBUILDING WITH GRIT…AND DEEP POCKETS
Now that Miami is officially making strides under Cristobal; a fully-funded program finally investing big in football, after almost two decades where former UM president Donna Shalala took a kill-what-you-eat approach to athletics—the outsiders are sensing this isn’t the same lather, rinse, repeat type of false start that has plagued the Canes since the millennium.
Even the staunchest critics know deep down that something different is underway, so they’re all lashing out, or stuffing their heads back in the sand.
Fact remains Cristobal is not just an ace recruiter; he’s been as masterful in the transfer portal and has quietly been rebuilding a program that was a complete tear-down, despite insinuations it just needed some patch and paint work after a three-year run under Diaz.
Gutting the program was legitimately two steps back to eventually take one step forward—and from there, the ongoing quest to find a way to win big enough with the players on the roster, in order to get the bigger time players this program needs to win at a championship level.
That’s why blowing a 21-point lead at Syracuse, or the inability to stop a gimmicky Georgia Tech offense was just so detrimental late last season—as reaching the ACC Championship to take on a very beatable SMU team, winning a conference title and getting a first-round bye in the CFP as a top-four seed—it would’ve fast-tracked everything Cristobal is now grinding for this off-season.
Miami’s pitch has been the same or the past two decades; selling hope and what could be, opposed to showing proof and evidence that the Hurricanes are truly on that ‘back’ track and a rising-power authentically competing for championships again.
More was lost last fall than just two regular season games down the stretch.
The opportunity cost and pissing away what was so within reach year three; it makes 2025 even more crucial as Miami has this rare season with a veteran like Beck under center—as well as one more go-around with this very seasoned offensive line and quality personnel across the board that won’t be around next year—all coming together this year with a handful of younger breakout stars patiently waiting their turn.
The Canes won’t be in rebuild-mode in 2026 by any stretch; but much like ACC-favorite Clemson this year—this Miami team is built to do something special this year that won’t be as clear-cut next fall.
An unprecedented eight home games are on deck—albeit with a few poorly-timed bye weeks and what could be two tough, late-November road games weather-wise at Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
Still, Miami gets Notre Dame and Florida at HardRock in September and what is on-paper a rather manageable ACC schedule for what will be the Hurricanes’ most-talented roster since 2017, or 2013.
There is also the seismic shift on the defense that is reminding old schoolers of what took place between the 1998 and 1999 off season when then-head coach Butch Davis was at his own crossroad and had to make some tough decisions.
Miami finished that regular season with a thrilling, rescheduled home upset of #2 UCLA—one week after getting curb-stomped at the Carrier Dome—leaving a Big East title on the field at Syracuse, costing the Canes an Orange Bowl berth against Florida and a consolation prize of smacking around North Carolina State in the Micron PC Bowl.
Despite winning two of three and improving to 9-3—on the heels of 5-6—Miami gave up 1,566 yards and 134 points in that trio of games; proof to Davis that Bill Miller wasn’t capable of building a championship-caliber defense and sparking change, which led to the hiring of a virtually unknown 33-year old Chicago Bears assistant Greg Schiano.
Schiano brought his “attack, attack, attack” defensive approach to Coral Gables and much more on-brand, aggressive scheme that went on to shape the Canes’ defense for the next half decade, when Miami was more than “back”.
REVAMPED DEFENSE WILL DEFINE SEASON
Time will tell what Hetherman will do for this defense, as well as how quickly he can turn around last year’s sinking-ship defense—but philosophically, Cristobal’s newest coordinator believes in a flexible and position-less scheme that is focused on his players’ strengths—as well as situational, weekly match-ups that attack the root of an opponent’s offensive success, putting his guys in the best position to make big-time plays.
Pissing away a season where Miami had a generational talent at quarterback, losing three of the final four games and wrecking the most-exciting season the Hurricanes had experienced in years—that’s the type of failure that not only keeps a good head coach up at night; it will make him relentless and obsessive in his pursuit to right those wrongs.
This is a real crossroads moment for Cristobal as there won’t be a bigger coordinator hire in his tenure at Miami—not based on the timing, circumstances and all-around importance surrounding this one.
Hetherman fixing this defense in a season where Dawson is still on staff and calling a high-flying offense with an experienced SEC veteran quarterback; a successful and balanced 2025 can serve as a cheat-code fast-tracking the Hurricanes to an upper echelon by the early signing period this December.
Just as any rebuilding program needs to win with the players it has to attract more of the high-profile players it wants—the same goes for being able to keep a coaching staff humming that sees good turnover; a stark contact to this ongoing cycle of Miami having to get rid of coordinators every few years for not getting the job done.
OWNING LAST SEASON’S WEAKEST LINK
There is zero currency in the “Cardiac Canes” moniker that surrounded this program last year; a trumped-up nickname used to mask the fact that it took miracle work on offense to overcome a brutally-bad defense on a weekly basis.
That 9-0 start fueled by late-game comebacks; this team could’ve just as easily have started 6-3 and finished 7-6 if not for Ward’s heroics and getting pretty much every fortunate break.
As a result, winning cured all and fans blindly overhyped the final score, while ignoring all the warts that were exposed in the 60 minutes prior, as the Canes played with fire every game.
Miami blew out South Florida last September, but those looking past the score saw a flawed secondary that was going to eventually get exposed by better teams down the road; coming to a head at year’s end at Syracuse when Kyle McCord threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns, outscoring the Canes, 42-17 down the stretch.
A week after rolling in Tampa mid-September, Virginia Tech pushed Miami’s defense all over the field; not only grinding out 206 tough yards, but running the same plays over and over—backs getting outside the hashmarks, defenders out of position an whiffing in one-on-one situations—while Guidry’s side of the ball couldn’t adjust and was caught flat-footed.
Cal’s ground attack did something similar, putting Miami in massive hole where it took a 29-3 late-game run to eke out a one point win—the Bears offense looking world-class for three quarters and racking up 35 points a week after losing 13-9 to a Florida State team that finished with two wins.
Louisville rolled for 448 yards on offense and tagged Miami’s defense for 45 points—which incredibly wasn’t enough for the Cardinals as Ward miraculously led the Hurricanes to 52 points and 538 total yards.
In the end, only so many bullets could be dodged as defensive fails at Georgia Tech and Syracuse would definitely the season; low-lighted by an 11-minute touchdown drive in Atlanta where the non-mobile, back-up quarterback scramble for 12 yards on 3rd-and-9—or an Orange offense that put up video-game like numbers in the second half—it all unraveled over a few quarters and Miami’s house of cards season was completely exposed.
CANES MUST WIN BIG HERE AND NOW
Frustrated fans love preseason hyperbolic statements like, “ACC title, or bust!”—utterly nonsensical as the expensive Cristobal experiment isn’t coming to an end after four years if Miami doesn’t mange to reel in a conference championship—especially with a loaded Clemson squad being sold as the team to beat this fall.
Regardless, it’s an extremely pivotal year where reaching a conference title game and the playoffs can make a difference come December, as verbal commitments of summer all come to a head when that pen hits paper after championship weekend.
A solid 2025 campaign can be the missing piece that pushes Miami over the hump in the eyes of some on-the-fence kids not yet sold—as well as the next crop of portal pulls that want to be a part of what the Canes will follow up with next season.
Six weeks from hated rival in Notre Dame heading south; no better time to shift the focus off the future and onto what needs to be the beginning of a special run. The Fighting Irish tend to start slow and no better time for Miami to make a statement when the national runner-up rolls into a new season undefeated, untested and overhyped.
Hit the ground running with four consecutive home games and tune things up against Bethune-Cookman and South Florida, before welcoming Florida to HardRock for the first time since 2013—and from there the season’s first road trip takes place in Tallahassee after the first bye week.
Louisville and Stanford visit before Miami treks out to SMU—followed by a revenge shot at Syracuse at home and Senior Day against North Carolina State; another team the Canes owe one after laying an egg in Raleigh in 2023.
From there, a hopefully battle-tested Miami has what it takes to survive Blacksburg and Pittsburgh in back-to-back weeks late November, where an ACC title berth could hang in the balance—while upset losses in inclement weather could derail everything.
GET BUSY LIVING, MIAMI—IT’S YOUR TIME
Getting over the proverbial hump.
It’s been an ongoing conversation for years, but is only a reality now with year four of the Cristobal era about to kick off.
The outside noise has been brutal since losing the final three of four late last year—which is even more reason to drown out the haters and critics with their biased barking, rooted in feelings, emotions and a surface-level understanding of a Miami program they truly never understood.
No, Beck isn’t Ward—but he doesn’t need to be if the Hurricanes expectedly roll out a defense night and day better than last year’s abysmal group. Either way, the gaslighting efforts and revisionist history regarding what this former Georgia quarterback has done—and can do again if healthy this season—it’s pathetic.
Beck was the projected top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft for a reason—and behind a better offensive line, suiting-up against lesser ACC defenses and supported by a deep running backs room and tremendously talented, albeit untested receivers—the spin-city efforts being made to downplay or sensationalize the story are just wrong.
Anybody believing the sky isn’t the limit for a Hurricanes roster vastly-improved across the board; the season can’t start soon enough to set some jaded and biased, Miami-hating college football fans straight.
Christian Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint with BleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.com where he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello is a brand storyteller for some exciting companies and individuals—as well as a guitarist and songwriter for his Miami-bred band Company Jones, who released their debut album “The Glow” in 2021. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.