Paul Finebaum circles moment that Miami, Mario Cristobal announce their place on national stage

The Mario Cristobal era is off and running at Miami, with the Hurricanes 1-0 after a dominating 70-13 victory over Bethune-Cookman on Saturday. Now, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum believes that Cristobal is ready to lead Miami back to national prominence.

Miami hosts Southern Miss in Week 2, but a Week 3 matchup in College Station against Texas A&M looms as an intriguing contest. Paul Finebaum joined ESPN’s First Take on Monday, where he pointed out that game as a major opportunity for Cristobal to show that Miami is on its way back to being a player on the national stage.

Finebaum also said that Cristobal played a big role alongside Nick Saban when he was at Alabama, and that his departure was a big reason for Oregon‘s dismantling loss against Georgia on Saturday.

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“I am the biggest Mario Cristobal fan in the world,” Finebaum said. “He helped Nick Saban immensely when he was there. I think if he had stayed at Oregon, we wouldn’t have had the debacle we had in Atlanta. And he is actually recruiting better in many people’s eyes than what’s going on in the upper part of the state. So I think they’re a major threat and a few weeks from now they go to Texas A&M and nobody is going to give them any chance. But they could shatter A&M’s bubble with a win there. Ultimately, I think Miami is coming back.”

The Week 3 matchup between Texas A&M and Miami is undoubtedly a big one. The Aggies entered the season ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP Top 25, while the Hurricanes came in at No. 16. Texas A&M picked up a 31-0 victory over Sam Houston State in Week 1, and will play host to a sneaky Appalachian State team in Week 2.

Cristobal knows exactly what it takes to win at Miami. He experienced that a lot during his playing days, winning two national championships with the Hurricanes in 1989 and 1991. Now, Cristobal is back to his old roots and looking to lead the program back to that national stage, this time as the team’s head coach. If Cristobal and Miami can pull off a win in Week 3 against the Aggies and begin the year 3-0, then they might be back on the national stage faster than anybody expected them to.