COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The first loss of Mario Cristobal’s tenure with the Hurricanes came at Kyle Field. The Aggies won a sloppy, 17-9 game. It was the first of seven losses for UM that season.

That first season under Cristobal included embarrassing home losses to Middle Tennessee State, Duke and Florida State. It concluded with an uninspiring, blowout loss to Pittsburgh. Miami missed a bowl. The College Football Playoff — still in its four-team era — was seemingly light-years away.

But help was on the way. In the offseason, the Hurricanes signed players like Rueben Bain Jr., Francis Mauigoa and Mark Fletcher Jr. That group would form the core of a team that improved from 5-7 in 2022 to 7-6 in 2023, won 10 games in 2024 and then reached a new milestone this year, clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.

“It means a lot — not only to the program, but the city. Just knowing the excitement and reactions I’m getting from people as I go to different spots, different locations and just the ‘bring-it-home’ I got, it’s crazy,” Bain said. “… This is what I came here for. This is the moment I came for, knowing that the program was what it was when I came. And now we’ve done put it up and really grinded it out and made it to where it is now.

“We’re not finished. It’s a whole bunch of stuff we still have to do, still have to prove and earn.”

Reaching the playoffs over Notre Dame in a controversial decision by the selection committe was the latest sign of No. 10 Miami’s ascendency. The next mile marker is winning a playoff game. Reaching that next step won’t be easy. No. 7 Texas A&M, which won 11 games for the first time since 2012, stands in the way. The Aggies will try to replicate the 2022 result when they face off with the Hurricanes at noon (11 a.m. in College Station) at Kyle Field on Saturday in both teams’ playoff debuts.

“This is what we came here to do,” Fletcher said. “(We) came here to change the culture of the program, change how people view us. But we just came in here all together, stuck to the plan, and we’re just excited for this opportunity.”

Miami’s first-round game against Texas A&M may be the most intriguing first-round matchup this year, as Alabama and Oklahoma played each other earlier in the season, and Oregon and Ole Miss are expected to roll over their Group of 5 opponents, James Madison and Tulane, respectively.

The Aggies are slight favorites, favored by three points over UM, but the teams are evenly matched. Both are strong in the trenches and feature All-American pass rushers — Cashius Howell for Texas A&M and Bain for Miami. Both teams’ quarterbacks, UM’s Carson Beck and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed, have had moments of brilliance and moments of catastrophe during the course of the year.

But the teams come into Saturday’s playoff game on different trajectories. The Aggies needed to climb out of a 27-point hole to beat South Carolina, which ended the season 4-8. In their regular-season finale, Texas A&M fell on the road to rival Texas.

Miami, however, appears to be playing its best football after a mid-season stumble with losses to unranked Louisville and SMU. Most of UM’s competition in the final month of the season had been against sub-.500 teams, but it ended the season with a blowout victory over then-ranked Pittsburgh. The Hurricanes outscored their last four opponents 151-41.

“I think we’re picking up where we left off when we finished the season,” Cristobal said after Wednesday’s practice.

If Miami beats Texas A&M on Saturday, it will face Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve. It would be an opportunity UM fans have hungered for since the Buckeyes beat the Hurricanes for the 2002 national championship following a controversial pass interference penalty in the end zone.

The Hurricanes haven’t had much success since that game, failing to win an ACC championship, going 4-13 in bowl games and never reaching the College Football Playoff — until now.

Advancing to play Ohio State, which has won two national titles since beating UM in that 2002 championship game (including last year’s title), would be another sign of the Hurricanes’ rise.

“You just want to always progress, right?” Cristobal said. “You always want to keep getting better and ascend. Your trajectory wants to be one of ascension, and we’re still on that. And we expect to keep going and going and going.”