Mario Cristobal has referenced this week’s matchup as a tremendous opportunity. When you look at the schedule it’s easy to see why he might say that. The Hurricanes are traveling to College Station, Texas to play against the #24 Texas A&M Aggies. A ranked, out of conference matchup against an SEC team. Yeah, that’s a good opportunity. But Mario has used the word “tremendous” - why? I’ve got a few ideas why…
A tremendous opportunity to change the narrative. What narrative? The one that says Miami can’t win big games - especially not away from home. All week I’ve been asking people one question, “When’s the last time Miami was competitive in a non-rivalry, prime time matchup?” Non-rivalry means you can’t include games against Florida State, Florida, Notre Dame, etc. Also notice I didn’t even say win. Just competitive – as in showed up. In my estimation, you’d have to go back to 2011 when the Canes hosted a #17 ranked Ohio State and were able to get a victory. Since then we’ve seen Miami get handled in matchups with Clemson, LSU, Wisconsin and Alabama. Mario Cristobal was hired, in part, because he has shown an ability to win these types of games (see what Oregon did @ Ohio State last season) but can he get Miami to the point where they can do that? Narrative is a big deal to the players, the administration (who has begun investing big money), and to recruits. Tonight would be a tremendous opportunity to change that narrative very early in his tenure.
A tremendous opportunity to get an early statement win. The infamous statement win is a regular point of reference for college football coaches. It’s nearly impossible to quantify what a statement win does for a program but it’s a real thing. When a team is ascending you can often point to a particular game and say “that’s when they put everybody on notice”. Conversely, when a new coach can’t get his team on the right tracks he’ll continue to be in pursuit of that one victory that galvanizes the program and solidifies his players motivations for buying in. Most often this type of win doesn’t happen in Year 1 and if Miami were to lose it would likely just mean “not yet”. Mario was unable to get such a win his first year in Oregon but this isn’t the game many hoped it’d be due to TAMU losing to Appalachian St but make no mistake, this is a big game and a tremendous opportunity to get an early statement win.
A tremendous opportunity to give recruiting a spark. Much has been said about how well Mario recruits. Much of that is spot on. Miami currently holds a Top 10 recruiting class (according to 247sports) that is headlined by the #1 OT in the country, Francis Mauigoa. There’s approximately 3 months left before the Early Signing Day which means many recruiting battles are heating up. Mario has the Canes in many a finalist list for some highly touted kids and nothing notches you closer to getting commitments from them like winning big games. Texas A&M is hosting a bevy of recruits at this game and a number of them are also considering Miami as possible destinations for their collegiate career. If the Canes go into raucous Kyle Field and get a dub in front of those kids – and kids around the country – it would make convincing them to call Miami home a little bit easier. Mario knows as good as anyone that talent acquisition is absolutely critical for high level success on the field so this assuredly would be a tremendous opportunity to give recruiting a spark.
Cover image credits to 247sports
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