The only thing that can save Mario Cristobal's job is more knees from Cam Ward. A year after being the biggest machismo meatheaded idiot this side of the Mississippi River, Cristobal's crystal ball said to go get a better quarterback, especially after Tyler Van Dyke hit the portal and transferred to Wisconsin. Cristobal can recruit alright, but he better thank his lucky stars that Ward reconsidered.
Ward had previously declared for the 2024 NFL Draft after spending the last two years at Washington State. He has an NFL future ahead of him, but this was the wrong quarterback draft for him to ever be entering. By reconsidering and going to Miami like Will Smith once did, Ward might slap some sense into Cristobal like Smith did to Chris Rock at the Oscars. Cristobal is a noted False Start award winner.
But all jokes aside, what this move does is it not only gives Ward his best shot at being a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but a 10-2 season out of the Canes should be more than enough to give Cristobal a fourth year leading his alma mater. The ACC is more up for grabs than it has been in years with Florida State potentially pulling back and Clemson not being what it had once been previously.
Here is Ward's official tweet saying that he is all about The U now. He looks so good in that uniform!
— Cameron Ward (@Cameron7Ward) January 14, 2024
Of course, Cristobal has a bad reputation for never getting the most out of his quarterback's talent.
Cam Ward is Miami's answered prayer, one that will save Mario Cristobal
What we have to remember is that College Football Playoff expansion serves mid-tier programs like Miami considerably. Although the Canes never really had a team worthy of making the four-team field under its previous iteration, there have been a few years where maybe they could have almost been the 11th best team? Would the ACC's second or third best be good enough to be top-12 nationwide?
If I did the math right, here is how the 12 playoff teams will divied up most years. The Group of Five gets one. The Big Ten and the SEC will probably get about seven or eight. That leaves between three and four teams that could get in from the ACC and Big 12. All four Power Four league's champions will get in, barring a historically bad year from either the ACC or the Big 12. It will not happen in the others.
Although Miami has not fielded a winning team in either of Cristobal's first two years at Coral Gables, you could argue that Ward is now the best quarterback in the ACC, certainly more reliable than DJ Uiagalelei, more consistent than Cade Klubnik and more proven against higher-end competition that Grayson McCall. Maalik Murphy at Duke does offer a ton of upside. Regardless, we like Ward at Miami.
Truth be told, this new partnership will give Ward all the praise and Cristobal all of the blame at Miami.