Hurricanes have ‘a lot to build on’ from 2024, but fell short of season’s high expectations

As Mario Cristobal lamented the Miami Hurricanes’ final missed chance of the season — a 42-41 loss to Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday — he looked to offensive lineman Jalen Rivers, who was sitting to his left.

“I feel for guys like this,” Cristobal said. “Guys that have really exhausted every ounce that they have for the University of Miami and have done a great job this year of finding a way to win ten games. We fell short in three of them in very close games. Disappointed that we couldn’t pull out a victory for them, and the rest of the guys in their final game, in the final game of the season, as well, for the rest of our players.

“Certainly, these guys have always fought, have always competed in every single opportunity they have had. This is no exception, but really honored to have coached a guy like this and several others in that locker room. It’s painful. It’s as painful as it gets when you don’t win.”

The Hurricanes entered the season budding with expectations. They had one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Cam Ward, who was set to lead what the Hurricanes hoped would be one of the most feared offenses in the country. They had, on paper, a relatively easy schedule that should have helped propel them to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game and, hopefully, a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

It was all there for them.

And then, it wasn’t.

Miami started the season 9-0 and ranked as high as No. 4 in both the AP poll and College Football Playoff rankings before dropping three of their final four games — 28-23 to Georgia Tech, 42-38 to Syracuse and 42-41 to Iowa State — to cast a pall over Cristobal’s third season.

The offense finished as the top in the country in yards per game (537.2), yards per play (7.57) and points per game (43.9) but the defense cracked down the stretch, with Miami ultimately finishing tied for 68th nationally in points per game allowed (25.3).

On Saturday against Iowa State, Miami took a six-point lead, 41-35 with 9:40 left, before allowing Iowa State to complete a 15-play, 84-yard game-winning drive, taking the lead for good with 56 seconds left in regulation on a Rocco Becht 1-yard quarterback run.

“In three games, we fell short by a drive, a play, a series,” Cristobal said. “Those things are painful, and it makes you understand and realize how the details in football come into play against really good teams.”

Now, the Hurricanes enter the offseason trying to take a glass-half-full mentality to the season. They are taking solace that they still made strides this year under Cristobal. They went from five wins in Year 1 to seven in Year 2 to 10 in Year 3.

“A lot to build on,” Cristobal said. “A lot accomplished by these guys.”

But with that the question becomes: Will they maintain that trajectory with so much talent from a senior-laden team going out the door?

Ward is gone. All four of the team’s top receivers in Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George, Sam Brown and Isaiah Horton (the latter transferring out) are gone. Their tight ends in Elijah Arroyo and Cam McCormick are gone. Their left tackle in Rivers and center in Zach Carpenter are gone. Seven starters or main contributors on defense — defensive linemen C.J. Clark, Simeon Barrow, Tyler Baron and Elijah Alston; linebacker Francisco Mauigoa; and defensive backs Mishael Powell and Daryl Porter Jr. — are gone. And their kicker Andres Borregales is gone.

That’s a lot of talent to replace, and more could be added to that list depending on who decides to declare for the NFL draft or if any more underclassmen opt to enter the transfer portal in the coming days.

But for now, there is still optimism inside the team that they are heading in the right direction despite a season with so much promise ending on such a sour note.

“You’ve been seeing it ever since he’s got here: We’re getting better and better, we’re going to get better next year and the years after that,” said Rivers, a fifth-year redshirt junior who is heading to the NFL. “We believe in and I feel like the whole program believes in coach Cristobal and everybody on the staff to get the right guys in and win games. You see, we went from 5-7 to 7-5 to 10-3. Of course, this year wasn’t the best that we assumed that it would have been. Next year is going to be even better, because we believe in coach Cristobal and the staff and the guys that he brings in. That’s why I stayed. I stayed here all five years, because I saw something in this program and when coach Cristobal came in here, I saw what he can do. Because, if he did it at the last place, he can do it at this place. I feel like the trajectory of this program is going in the right place.”