Miami’s 2025 College Football Playoff Hopes in Jeopardy After Week 10 Loss to SMU
Despite a strong start to the season, Miami’s College Football Playoff aspirations are now at risk following their Week 10 defeat to SMU. Head coach Mario Cristobal recognizes that the loss has placed his team in a challenging position heading into the final month of the regular season.
While Cristobal remains confident in his team’s abilities, he admitted there is clear work to be done. The fourth-year coach took full responsibility for the defeat, stating that the loss was “completely” due to Miami’s critical errors and failure to execute the game plan.
“This is certainly a wild college football season, and the focus has to be on us taking care of business,” Cristobal said. “You always give credit to the opponent because that’s a good football team. When you make that many mistakes, it’s on everybody in the organization. You allow yourself to be put in a position where you can get beat, and that’s what happened today.”
Since starting 5-0, Miami has gone just 1-2 in its last three games, including losses as a double-digit favorite. The struggles began with a 24-21 defeat to Louisville at home in Week 8. Cristobal also attributed that loss to self-inflicted errors and pointed to a lapse in coaching as a factor in the team’s recent struggles.
The coach also hinted at a minor controversy, suggesting that SMU might have mimicked Miami’s cadences to induce false start penalties that went unnoticed by officials.
“It’s the things that we’ve made a point of emphasis,” Cristobal explained. “But obviously, we’re not getting a result, so we’re not coaching it, teaching it, and executing it well enough. We had some issues with their stems and movements. We try to report when our cadence is being mimicked, but that didn’t get any traction. That happens in football, so no excuses. There’s not enough discipline as it relates to just holding our water and not jumping.”
Playoff Hopes Dwindle as Miami Drops in ACC Standings
Miami entered the game ranked No. 10 in the Week 10 AP poll but now faces the possibility of falling out of the rankings entirely. Although the Hurricanes can still make the playoffs by winning the ACC, their path has become increasingly difficult.
The loss to SMU dropped Miami to 2-2 in the ACC, placing them seventh in the conference. They now lose tiebreakers to several teams ahead of them and sit behind Virginia, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Duke in the standings.
Looking ahead, Miami’s schedule includes four winnable games against Syracuse, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh. These matchups provide an opportunity to climb the conference rankings, but none of those opponents currently carries significant weight in the national rankings.
Miami will still need some help if they hope to reach the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2017. With several challenges ahead, the Hurricanes must address their discipline and execution issues quickly to keep their postseason dreams alive.
https://clutchpoints.com/ncaa-football/miami-football-news-mario-cristobal-said-disaster-loss-smu
