Miami's Mario Cristobal pleads Hurricanes' playoff case: 'Award football teams for winning football games'
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal made a straightforward case for the Hurricanes to make the College Football Playoff field on Monday, and it boiled down to one thing:
Put Miami in the field because we won more games.
"We won 10 games this year and not many teams have," Cristobal said in his weekly appearance on WQAM, accoring to the Associated Press (via ESPN), "And in our losses, those losses came down to one possession. That's a very different résumé than the 9-3 teams'."
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Miami are 10-2, but currently sit 14th in the latest AP poll, sitting behind 11th-ranked Alabama and 13th-ranked South Carolina, who are both 9-3. The Hurricanes had been sitting pretty prior to last week, but found themselves on the receiving end of a 42-38 loss to Syracuse.
"The awards should go to the teams that are actually winning the games, not the ones that are politicking themselves out of losses," Cristobal said.
While Cristobal does have a point about Miami's record, the Hurricanes are going to be a fascinating tournament test case this season. ESPN's Bill Connelly has them ranked 10th in SP+ on the year, but they sit behind fellow bubble hopefuls Ole Miss (third) and Alabama (fifth). The Hurricanes had an incredibly soft path to 10-2; they played no teams who were ranked in the top 25 at the time of their game, and the only currently ranked team they played was Syracuse, who they lost to.
On top of that, Miami played a LOT of close games against inferior competition; they needed a miracle comeback to beat Cal, and a controversial end of game call to escape Virginia Tech. Their defense is ghastly, allowing 28 or more points in six of their last eight games. Quarterback Cam Ward is electric and the offense is explosive, but find themselves in a lot of shootouts because of their defensive issues.
For his part, Cristobal remains undaunted.
"Go to the facts," Cristobal said, "Award football teams for winning football games."
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