Are the Hurricanes ready to contend?

Mario Cristobal. Image via AP.

Is this the year that the Miami Hurricanes return to national prominence?

Last season, head coach Mario Cristobal delivered a 10-win season, the school’s first since 2017. This season, the Hurricanes will try to make the College Football Playoff for the first time. The school last won a national championship in 2001.

“The steady progress and trajectory is a product of a lot of people, players, coaches, staff members working really hard to get Miami to where it needs to be, and one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, why I chose to leave my place on the West Coast to come back and do Miami the way Miami should be done,” Cristobal said at the ACC Football Kickoff meetings this week. “That’s what we’ve been doing.”

Ordinarily, losing a Heisman Trophy finalist and the first pick of the NFL draft would not lead to a team expecting to be better, but that’s the situation Miami is in.

With the addition of former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, the Canes are expected to contend for the ACC championship and one of the 12 playoff spots.

“We’re thrilled to have Carson here now,” Cristobal said. “We’re looking for the first and best version of Carson Beck. Carson has as good of experience as a quarterback as you can have. He’s played in monster games, and he’s played at a high level. He is ultra-competitive, and his football IQ is off the charts. It didn’t take long to realize that he’s a team player, and that his work ethic is also through the roof.”

Beck missed spring practices and was limited in his participation but has now been cleared and is working with the team.

As for Beck, who won 24 of 27 games in which he started at Georgia, he transferred to Miami and reaped the benefits of a reported $4 million NIL deal.

“I’m really excited to continue to keep working with these guys,” Beck said. “Ultimately, the decision, I feel like, has really paid off, and this off-season has been really good and full of good work.”

Beck will also be working against ACC defenses, instead of those in the SEC. In four games against ACC teams in his career, Beck has thrown 10 touchdowns and only one interception.

“Football is football, at the end of the day,” Beck said. “I think from team to team, you’re going to get different defensive coordinators with different philosophies. I don’t think it’s as much of an ACC versus SEC thing. I think it’s just a team-to-team thing.”

Miami’s schedule includes a season opener against Notre Dame and a Sept. 20 meeting with Florida, followed by a trip to Tallahassee to face Florida State. That’s three rivalry games in the first five matchups of the season.

“There’s just a ton of energy and momentum surrounding our program right now,” Cristobal said. “Our excitement is geared towards the fact that we get to start football fall camp, training camp, and get in there and really just be focused on our team to establish our identity.”