Mario Cristobal points to Miami blowing out Florida in response to Steve Sarkisian: 'That settles that debate'

Steve Sarkisian has hit the campaign trail since Texas took down Texas A&M on Friday. Sarkisian wants his team to be in the 12-team College Football Playoff field, making his case in multiple ways. One included a shot at Miami, pointing at the Hurricanes running up the score vs. Pitt over the weekend.

While Sarkisian did not mention Miami by name, it’s clear who he was referring to. And now, Mario Cristobal has responded. Cristobal fired back at Sarkisian by pointing to the lone common opponent between Texas and Miami, the Florida Gators.

“That’s funny,” Cristobal told On3’s Brett McMurphy. “We had one common opponent: Florida dominated Texas 29-21, a team we beat convincingly 26-7. That settles that debate.”

Sarkisian made his original comments on SEC This Morning. His overall point revolved around the committee watching games compared to just looking at box scores. One exact scenario just so happened to be on the top of his mind.

“Is this about what your record is at the end, or is this about beating quality teams and showing how good of a team you really are by beating quality teams on the field,” Sarkisian said. “Or, is it, don’t play good teams, put up a bunch of yards, put up a bunch of points, and make it look good. Throw fade route touchdowns with 38 seconds to go when you’re ahead 31-7 so that the score looks better. So is the committee really watching the games, or are they just looking at a stat sheet at the end of the game to say ‘Oh, well they won by this many points, they must’ve played really good.’”

Miami entered the final weekend of the regular season ranked No. 12 by the College Football Playoff committee, four spots ahead of Texas. Movement is expected on Tuesday night due to the Longhorns’ win over Texas A&M, a team ranked in the top three at the time. Whether or not they have a chance to jump Miami, Cristobal and Sarkisian will find out at the same time as us.

As for the games against Florida, they came over a three-week span. Miami won its second straight game in the series, this time at Hard Rock Stadium. A 13-point explosion in the final four minutes helped Cristobal’s bunch earn a double-digit victory.

Texas found itself down two scores a couple of weeks later in the Swamp. Arch Manning and the offense did get the ball back in the closing moments down eight, only to see time expire. Not how anyone in Austin wanted to begin SEC play before ultimately finishing 6-2 and 9-3 overall.