Mario Cristobal makes case for Miami to make College Football Playoff

The Miami Hurricanes dropped their final regular season game to the Syracuse Orange to fall to 10-2 and miss the ACC Championship Game. With that, the Hurricanes are going to need to rely on the selection committee if they’re going to make the College Football Playoff.

Despite the second loss, one person who thinks that Miami still deserves to make the Playoff is the team’s head coach, Mario Cristobal. He explained why he believes the Hurricanes still deserve a shot following their recent loss.

“You reemphasize reality,” Mario Cristobal said. “This team won 10 football games against some really good opponents. This last game, it came all the way down to the wire. Our two losses are by one possession left and a touchdown. That makes us one of the better teams in the country. We can control what we can control. So, we have to wait and see, but certainly, this team has really worked hard and busted its butt to put its best foot forward.”

It will be difficult for Miami to not walk away from the Syracuse loss with its frustrations. At one point, the Hurricanes jumped out to a 21-0 lead before the Orange made their way back into the game. Then, in the fourth quarter, the Hurricanes would settle for a field goal instead of going for a touchdown to tie the game.

Now, Miami’s fate moving forward is in the hands of the College Football Playoff selection committee. The next rankings will come out on Tuesday night and should give some insight into where the Hurricanes stack up. At that point, the only changes that will come are going to be from the conference championship games. In the ACC, that will be between SMU and Clemson.

Paul Finebaum: Miami ‘always fails’ to deliver

On Sunday following the Syracuse loss, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum made an appearance on SportsCenter where he was critical of Miami, sharing that he feels the Hurricanes always fail to deliver in big moments.

“You just can’t do that when you have everything on the line. This has been a tendency of Mario Cristobal’s teams at Miami. Remember, they had the Georgia Tech game and they blew it,” Finebaum said.

“They had this game in hand. They were up 21-0, and they let it slip away on the road. I realize Syracuse is a very good team, but when you have one of the best quarterbacks and one of the best players in the country — you have to deliver. And the Miami Hurricanes always fail to do that.”