CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Mario Cristobal spent four seasons under Nick Saban at the University of Alabama and learned countless lessons, but some stand out more than others.
And when I think about the College Football Playoff, Saban’s words from when Cristobal was an assistant stuck with me.
“‘If you want to make everyone happy, don’t coach, go play football. Go sell ice cream, because ice cream shops make everyone happy,'” Cristobal said, recalling Saban’s line. “In football, not everyone is going to be happy.”
Miami wasn’t happy after going 10-2 and being ignored by the CFP committee a year ago.
The Hurricanes are excited heading into a playoff game against Texas A&M at 10-2 this year. In the end, it came down to the final at-large spot, Miami or Notre Dame, and the committee ultimately had no choice but to concede the Hurricanes’ 27-24 season-opening victory over the Fighting Irish.
Miami now advances to the playoffs. Notre Dame’s season is over. He handed out bowl invitations and told fans his focus would be on winning a national title in 2026. And yes, the Hurricanes and Irish are scheduled to play at Notre Dame next November.
“Notre Dame is a great football team,” Cristobal said. “A process like this… requires us to re-evaluate every process and revise it as much as possible, but I think everyone is working on it. Last year, we were left out and we weren’t very happy. This is a tough business, dude. It’s a really, really tough business. I respect everyone involved in this.”
The CFP selection committee was asked to rewatch the Notre Dame-Miami game in recent days, and chairman Hunter Yurachek said the situation stood out.
“The coaches observed that Notre Dame went after some of their athletic receivers hard, especially on the Miami side, but I felt like there was a little more athleticism on the Miami vs. Notre Dame side,” Yurachek said. “And then there was the fact that Miami’s defense really stifled Notre Dame’s run game like no one else did all season.”
Tweaks to the process will definitely be made. Miami lost a five-way tiebreaker for a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, and the league’s rules have been under fire ever since. If the tiebreaker had gone Miami’s way, there’s a good chance the Hurricanes would have won or lost, and Notre Dame would have clinched a playoff spot anyway.
Also perplexing to many is that Notre Dame is ahead of Miami in every CFP ranking, yet falls behind the Hurricanes in the end after a weekend in which neither club played. In short, the CFP committee said its prism became different when considering just these two clubs vying for one spot, rather than as part of a larger group. That makes some sense, but still, it’s easy to see why someone who made the wrong decision would think it was somewhere between confusing and flat-out wrong.
“It’s a lot of work,” Cristobal said. “It’s a tough industry, isn’t it? I mean, where else are there so many variables that affect the outcome of a game so much, sending teams into a death spiral and pushing other teams to new heights? And then there’s human error, and there’s referees, and injuries, and all that. There’s a lot going on in a football game, and when you add in committees to make decisions, it becomes tough for everyone.”
If not for CFP’s call-up, Miami likely would have qualified for the Gator Bowl. For many players considering the 2026 NFL Draft, this bowl was probably one they would skip. And for players like Carson Beck, Ruben Bayne Jr., Akheem Mesidor and CJ Daniels, it likely would have meant the end of their college careers. This is not a new concept to college football. Bowl games are often very watered down now that teams have missed out on the CFP.
“One thing we do know is that the passion behind college football is greater than ever,” Cristobal said. “And what I’m most pleased about in terms of the process is that we didn’t compromise on winning on the field, because with all the chaos and uncertainty in college football right now, it’s been thrown into a different galaxy. Coaches are looking for jobs, but their current jobs require them to fly back to coach their teams. I’m glad that we didn’t punish the student-athletes who actually put themselves at risk on the field while all of this is going on.”
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