Miami quieted the College Football Playoff debate at Texas A&M, now will chase a 25-year-old ghost

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Mario Cristobal was in the middle of his postgame interview in the manic moments after Miami’s 10-3 win over Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Out of nowhere, Hurricanes legend Michael Irvin appeared in the shot, grabbed Cristobal’s arm, and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.

“It was disgusting,” Cristobal said later, laughing. “I couldn’t find enough wipes to clean myself.”

That kiss almost didn’t happen. This win almost didn’t happen. And it had nothing to do with the gritty nature of the game, which felt like the Aggies were going to win multiple times. For weeks, Miami was engaged in a resume debate with Notre Dame and Alabama about its worthiness for College Football Playoff inclusion. Even as the game played out — and offenses struggled — there were plenty of people mocking the CFP Committee for taking Miami.

But Miami, which “wasn’t even good enough” to make the ACC Championship Game, went on the road and knocked off Texas A&M, a team that started the season 11-0 and was ranked in the top three of those very CFP rankings at the end of November.

Miami now faces Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve. It continues its chance to win the program’s first national title since 2001. But even as the journey continues, Miami has made clear that this program is going to be a problem nationally for years to come.

“I think it was important first to get into the Playoff,” Cristobal said. “Then to go and win at a place like this, right? It was 100,000-plus people on the road, a team that was arguably top two or three until their last game, and to get it done in this type of environment. We needed that. If you could draw it up the way we wanted it, we wanted to go there. We wanted to come here and do it against a great football team.

“What does it mean for us? Continued progress. The vision. We have never altered the course or been deterred despite all the challenges that come with it. That’s part of it. I am really proud of our players. It’s all about them and that staff, because, again, 40-plus days ago, we were lower than low. We found a way to bring a different level of energy every single day and lift each other and the program up. And here we are with a chance to keep playing. That’s all that matters now.” 

For much of that game, things weren’t pretty. Miami missed a few field goals in the first half, and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t call his best game, giving in to the temptation to run atypical plays to get the ball into the hands of his best player — true freshman Malachi Toney.

Toney fumbled the ball near midfield with seven minutes remaining in a 3-3 game, making it seem like the Aggies were going to steal this one at home. But Miami’s defense came up with a stop, got the ball back, and rode running back Mark Fletcher — who carried it 17 times for 172 yards — deep into Aggies territory. Then it was Toney, affectionately known as Baby Jesus, who took a shovel pass from quarterback Carson Back for 11 yards to the house, giving the Hurricanes a seven-point lead with 1:44 remaining. 

There was a debate about whether Toney should have scored or fallen short of the goal line to milk the clock and set up the Hurricanes for a game-winning field goal as time expired. The debate grew more heated as Texas A&M drove down the field inside the Miami 10 with less than a minute remaining. But Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed threw an interception into the end zone to freshman Bryce Fitzgerald, ending the game. 

Those who don’t think Miami should have been in the CFP to begin with will tell you it was two bad teams on the field Saturday. It raises the never-ending debate about whether Notre Dame would have made things look easier, which is ironic given that this game featured two teams that beat the Irish earlier in the season.

After the game, Cristobal was asked whether he felt this game validated the CFP Committee’s decision to include Miami. His answer knocked it out of the park.

“Regardless of what the result was today, they made the right decision,” Cristobal said. “Last year, we had to go to court, I felt. We had a case, other teams had a case, but it was fuzzy. It was muddy. This year, there was nothing fuzzy about it. We had common opponents with another football team — that I’m sure would be great in the Playoffs – but we did better against those common opponents and we won the head-to-head win.

“God forbid we should ever get away from the meaning of head-to-head. Look out there today. How many guys were helped off the field? How many guys had to be carried or had to limp off, had to get on crutches? How many guys are seeing the doctor right now? For competing head-to-head. Let us never ever devalue the importance of head-to-head competition please.”

Through all the CFP discourse, Miami was repeatedly torn down. We heard over and over about its losses to Louisville and SMU, about how it played in a weak conference, how it didn’t make it to Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game and how it wasn’t worthy of this stage.

During that discourse, we forgot how this Miami team is built. Sturdy on the lines of scrimmage, punishing on defense — as illustrated in College Station on Saturday. It has a young phenom receiver in Toney and a reliable back in Fletcher who can move the sticks in close games. It also has two veteran players who have been here through Cristobal’s entire build: edge rusher Rueben Bain and offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa. It is built to compete against these teams.

Now we’ll spend the next 10 days debating whether these Hurricanes are equipped to compete with Ohio State, the team that beat them in the national title game in Tempe, Ariz., more than 20 years ago. That game, some say, marked the end of Miami’s reign of dominance.

The Hurricanes get another shot, not just at Ohio State but also at college football relevance. What happened in College Station was a massive step, but the job for national acceptance is far from over.

And who knows? Maybe Miami will shock the world in Dallas the way the Buckeyes did in Arizona in 2002. Remember, that’s why they play the games. The results matter and hypotheticals are irrelevant during this time of year.

Miami is making the most of the ones it’s been afforded the opportunity to keep playing.