Notre Dame fans weren’t happy when Miami received a College Football Playoff bid instead of the Fighting Irish. However, on Saturday, the Hurricanes proved they were worthy of a ticket with their 10-3 win over 7-seed Texas A&M.
Miami fans weren’t the only ones celebrating the victory. During an appearance on The Matt Barrie Show on Sunday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said he’d like to see Miami to continue to win for one specific reason.
“I’m glad the first round is over because we really have some classic storylines now. In the first round, we clearly did not. I’d like to see Miami win it all, just to shut Notre Dame fans up,” Finebaum said.
Miami defeated Notre Dame 27-24 when they met in the season-opener. However, many fans believed Notre Dame was the better team by the end of the season.
After all, the Fighting Irish won their final 10 games of the regular season, while Miami suffered losses against Louisville and SMU in ACC play. Nonetheless, the CFP selection committee ultimately honored the Hurricanes’ head-to-head victory.
Simultaneously, the committee punished Notre Dame for not belonging to a conference where they could face stronger competition. Miami rewarded the CFP selection committee for its confidence with an impressive win over Texas A&M on Saturday.
In the victory, Miami’s defense was spectacular, holding the Aggies to just 326 total yards of offense. Moreover, the Hurricanes squeezed three turnovers out of the Aggies.
Miami’s defensive showing was much-needed because its offense struggled mightily. Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck recorded just 103 passing yards in the win.
Miami’s lone bright spot on offense was running back Mark Fletcher, who exploded for 172 rushing yards on just 17 carries. Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal raved about the impact of the win after the game.
“It was important, first, to get in the playoff. Then to go and win at a place like this, right, 100 plus thousand people, on the road, a team that was arguably top 2 or 3 until their last game, and to get it done in this type of environment, we needed that,” Cristobal said. “If you could draw it up how 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, and we’ve never altered the course despite all the challenges that come with it. But that’s part of it. Again, really proud of our players.”