Paul Finebaum blasts Mario Cristobal, Miami’s place in College Football Playoff race
Paul Finebaum blasted Mario Cristobal and Miami’s chances to make the College Football Playoff following the loss to Syracuse.
The Hurricanes aren’t out of it yet, but the bubble could be very unkind to the team from South Florida. Finebaum erased Miami from the national championship discussion and nearly the playoff discussion altogether.
He dissected the team’s schedule and the rollercoaster rides it’s been despite a 10-2 campaign.
“There’s no way Miami deserves to be in, I mean that, and I’m going to talk about some things that almost happened and some things that did happen,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “They almost lost three more games … I respect Syracuse, it’s a good program, not a great program, by the way, but you just can’t let that happen. And that’s the DNA of this Miami team. Someone asked me yesterday, are they fraudulent? I mean, that’s a strong phrase. They’re fraudulent as a national championship contender. They’re a bubble team in the playoffs, and I think they got way too much credit for their record.
“Even one of their better wins over Florida happened when Florida was a wreck. My question is, do you think Miami could have beaten Florida in the Swamp on the final day of the season, as opposed to the first? I’d say they couldn’t have. They don’t belong there. So you know, to me, SMU is a much better argument as a two boss team than Miami.”
Finebaum played the hypothetical game with Miami, putting them in Alabama’s shoes. It’s not the most realistic way to evaluate a team, but Finebaum isn’t confident in the Hurricanes.
“I try to think in my own head, what would Miami do with an Alabama schedule,” Finebaum said. “And I know what they would do. They would have four or five losses. They’d probably have five losses. I mean, they have a great quarterback. He’s a generational quarterback. They have a couple of really good players, but Mario Cristobal, as much as I’ve tried to pull for him, he always does it to himself as a head coach, thinking that he was going to get the ball back in that game just shows you why he is not an elite coach.
“He’s a good coach, he’s a great recruiter, but he’s just a really average in-game coach, and I don’t even think it should be a close call.”
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