Miami can’t let Mario Cristobal fall asleep on the sidelines at Cal on Saturday night

While I picked the Miami Hurricanes to win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff at the start of the season, I had them winning the ACC at 11-1 with one conference loss. This is the game that I forecasted the Canes would lose. Going across the country to face a feisty California Golden Bears team was never going to be easy. ESPN's College GameDay may be in Berkeley, but it doesn't matter.

It is a very late kick for Miami. This comes off a game in which the Hurricanes got a boost from bad ACC officials that handed the game over to Miami after a questionable overturned call on the field that brought all of Blacksburg to its knees with Virginia Tech falling to 2-3. Cal has had two weeks to mull over its abysmal 14-9 loss at hapless Florida State in Week 4. Justin Wilcox will be ready for this.

Through their first five games of the college football season, Miami has kind of been able to win the game getting off the bus. The Hurricanes are simply more talented than every team they have played up to this point. The same principle applies vs. Cal, but the venue, dynamics and overall situation are clearly in the Golden Bears' favor. Even more so, we are overdue for a Mario Cristobal coaching dud.

Miami is my pick to get to Charlotte, win the ACC and make the playoff, but they might drop this game.

Miami must avoid the Mario Cristobal letdown game vs. Cal in Berkeley

I am not going as far as saying that Miami is winning in spite of Cristobal, but I think he is the reason why this team is not winning a national championship this year. It is going to take years before I forgive him for ripping defeat away from the jaws of victory with some buffoon in the rain nonsense vs. Georgia Tech. If Miami wasn't his alma mater, it would have been a fireable offense for most guys.

Truth be told, Miami may end up winning this game in Cal anyway. I think there were lessons to be learned from the close call vs. Virginia Tech that could help the Hurricanes get to a perfect 6-0. However, they are operating in unfamiliar territory as a program. The last time the Hurricanes were the hunted Larry Coker was coaching Butch Davis' players and A.J. Hawk was not yet a multi-millionaire.

Overall, Miami could still trip up somewhere in the second half of the season should the Canes get past Cal. Duke and Louisville are very good ACC teams. Georgia Tech and Syracuse play so hard for their coaches. While Florida State and Wake Forest resemble the saddest bags of crap now, we have seen Cristobal lose games Miami, Oregon and Florida International never had any business of losing.

This is the biggest game in Cal football in two decades, so Miami must be ready for the Golden Bears