‘That drives me bananas’ — Mario Cristobal’s words thrown back in his face by ACC with Miami Hurricanes’ 2026 schedule
The conference left Mario a present he didn’t want on Monday.
The Miami Hurricanes had a season to remember in 2025, coming up one drive short of winning their sixth national championship in a 27-21 loss to Indiana in the national championship game.
Despite some notable roster losses, including Rueben Bain, Jr., Francis Mauigoa, Keionte Scott, and Akheem Mesidor, there is still plenty in the cupboard for another playoff run in 2026.
And now, we know exactly what path the Hurricanes will take to try to get back to the national championship game and finish one score better next year. The ACC released all of its schools’ schedules on Monday evening, and Miami’s had a notable trait — they play a third of their schedule on days that are not Saturday.
Hurricanes have four games on Thursday or Friday on their 2026 schedule
Miami starts off with a Friday night game at Stanford. That’s honestly not a bad time for it, as it won’t set up as a mid-season cross-country trap game.
However, the Hurricanes’ early games don’t stop there. They follow that up with a Thursday night game against Florida A&M and then play at Wake Forest on Friday night the next week. Two road ACC games on Friday night in the first three weeks of the season isn’t particularly ideal. And the Canes also have another Friday night game late in the season against Virginia Tech.
Mario Cristobal surely isn’t a big fan of that based on his prior comments.
Mario Cristobal previously said college football should only be played on Saturdays
Cristobal previously went on the “Nonstop” podcast with Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway and made his feelings clear about playing Thursday and Friday games.
“One of the top things, and it’s minor in the eyes of many, I would eliminate Thursday and Friday games,” Cristobal said. “College football is for Saturday. That drives me bananas. I know that might be petty to some. I want college football on Saturdays. I really, really do.”
Well, the ACC ultimately gave Cristobal a big ol’ helping of mushy beets and Brussels sprouts with the Canes’ 2026 schedule. Like it or not, he and his staff are going to have to handle odd travel and game week prep trends multiple times during the season.
Not really the best way to treat the team that carried the banner of the ACC over the last couple of months, but at least they’ll get most of it out of the way during a relatively navigable opening stretch to their season.
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