CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Mario Cristobal doesn’t want to hear any of the incessant “The U Is Back” stuff.
Yes, the University of Miami is in the College Football Playoff semifinals, months after the Hurricanes were given almost no chance of making the 12-team field after two losses in a three-game stretch at midseason, and even while hearing plenty of pundits saying they don’t belong.
Yes, they’ve tied a school record with 12 wins. Yes, they’re two wins from what would be their sixth national championship but first since the 2001 season — and one victory away appearing in a title game that would just happen to come on their home field at Hard Rock Stadium.
Save it, at least around Cristobal. None of those words matter to Miami’s fourth-year head coach right now. Saturday was just another day in Coral Gables, which is consistent with what he’s been preaching since the former Hurricanes offensive lineman — a two-time national champion as a player — returned to his alma mater.
No. 10 Miami (12-2), an Atlantic Coast Conference program, takes on No. 6 Ole Miss (13-1), a Southeastern Conference team, in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday night in Glendale, Arizona. The other semifinal is a day later and an all-Big Ten affair as No. 1 Indiana (14-0) and No. 5 Oregon (13-1) face off in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.