For the first two rounds of the 2025 College Football Playoffs, Miami played teams with which they’d shared plenty of competitive history. Sure, 5 of the previous 6 matchups between Miami and Texas A&M
had come since 2007, and 4 of the 5 previous matchups between Miami and Ohio State had come since 1999. But with the absolute robbery of the 2002 National Championship Game among those, along with countless recruiting battles, there was plenty of connection and vitriol from previous years to color the narrative surrounding the game.
As Miami moves onto the CFP Semifinals against Ole Miss, this is uncharted territory, both in terms of on-field success and on-field competition against the Rebels.
Including this year, Miami has faced their previous two CFP opponents 11 times since 1999. Miami and Ole Miss have played 3 times….ever. In 1930, 1940, and 1951. That lack of contemporary history is quite odd for Miami, a program that has played the majority of the major P5 programs since ascending to the top of the CFP world in the 1980s. But, that also gives this team the chance to write their own story, and add a new chapter to an old story.
As Mario Cristobal is wont to say, this journey isn’t about the past. It’s about this year, the 2025 Miami Hurricanes, and what they can do on the field. I guess that’s a good thing since the last time these teams played was nearly 75 years ago.
Regardless of their miniscule competitive past, the door to the future for both Miami and Ole Miss lies on the other side of victory this game. The winner of this game will move on to the National Championship game. It would be Miami’s first appearance in the Championship Game since the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, and it would be Ole Miss’s first appearance in the Championship Game ever.
There’s a measure of comfort going against a team that you have history against. It’s easier for the fans (or bloggers like me!) to draw on history for the narratives surrounding the game. Going up against a new foe, or one that you haven’t played in many years, is a different situation, but the reward is still the same.
Without history to lean on in the lead up to the game, we can be like Mario Cristobal wants us to be, and focus on this moment, this team, and this game only. And I think this is a good thing. Cristobal has repeatedly stated that Miami is not trying to get “back” and relive past glory, they’re moving forward to define a new era of excellence and success. With every step against opponents old and new, Miami moves closer to making this a reality.
For long suffering Miami fans, the nostalgia and a measure of revenge for beating Ohio State was great. But now, with an opponent we haven’t seen in our lifetimes on deck in the semifinals, there is no history to color the view of this game. It’s team against team, strength against strength, with the focus solely on the present, not the past. And that’s just how Mario Cristobal wants it.
