Miami Hurricanes reach an achievement they hadn’t in almost 24 years, and Mario Cristobal isn’t having any of it
The Canes’ head coach made his feelings clear about what he thinks of the polls.
The Miami Hurricanes found themselves down and in a tough spot to archrival Florida State on Saturday. Despite being almost three touchdown favorites, the annual rivalry grudge match turned into a street fight that lasted into two overtime sessions. Miami managed to just get by, with Bryce Fitzgerald ending it with an interception in the end zone on fourth down for a 43-35 win.
On a day chock full of upsets — five AP top 10 teams lost on Saturday — simply winning was good enough. And with everything that happened, the Hurricanes found themselves back in a place they haven’t been in a long time — at the top of the polls. For the first time since Dec. 8, 2002, the Hurricanes were voted number one in the AP and Coaches Poll.
Miami voted No. 1 in AP and Coaches Poll for first time since December 2002
The Canes were number one after a perfect 12-0 season in 2002 after defeating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl in the regular season finale. Of course, they would finish the season No. 2 after a 31-24 double overtime loss to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl/BCS National Championship game.
Mario Cristobal was asked about the possibility of moving up to No. 1 after the game on Saturday night. He dismissed the importance of that without hesitation.
“Well, we have a good enough sample size of 2026 to know that that’s absolutely insignificant and irrelevant with the changing of the guard from week to week. Just has no value or our processes and whatnot. But I’ll focus on the real one that’s important and that’s the one and (zero).”
The Hurricanes could be there a while, as they have a suddenly rudderless Pitt team coming to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday before traveling to North Carolina. The following week, the Canes go to South Bend for a likely top five matchup with Notre Dame.
We’ll find out soon enough if Miami can manage to hang onto the top spot for longer than Georgia just did, with this wacky and unpredictable 2026 college football season showing that just about anything is possible.
