CaneSport Roundtable Debate: Are the Miami Hurricanes Still in Rebuild Mode After the Louisville Loss?

There was an interesting topic that arose during our CaneSport Live show this week: Whether this Miami Hurricanes program is still in rebuild mode off the team’s loss to Louisville. We all know the lack of talent and depth at UM when Mario Cristobal took over after the team had gone 21-15 in its prior three years under Manny Diaz. It was reflected in Cristobal’s first season that ended with a 5-7 record, the team’s worst finish since 2007. But since then the rebuilding has been evident, as Miami improved to 7-6 in 2023 and then 10-3 last year … with struggles at the end of the year as there were three losses in the final four games. This season the Canes were off to a 5-0 start including wins over Notre Dame, Florida, USF and Florida State. But then it seemed like things came to a screeching halt progress-wise with the loss to Louisville last weekend. Carson Beck threw four interceptions and fans have been critical of the plans laid out by coordinators Shannon Dawson and Corey Hetherman (Dawson in particular).

It remains to be seen what will transpire the rest of the season, but certainly with some tough games ahead it would not be a shock if Miami loses another game and misses the ACC title game and the playoffs. By the same token, perhaps Miami runs the table the rest of the way, as the team should be favored in every game.

With the above in mind, we turn to today’s CaneSport Roundtable topic. Is this program still in rebuilding mode? Or is it pretty much where it needs to be and just had a hiccup in one game, as can happen to pretty much any top program in this modern college football era?

GARY FERMAN

The roster is not yet where it needs to be to accomplish the kind of goals that Mario Cristobal and the University have in mind for the program. But does that make this a lingering rebuild situation or year? Hell no. This isn’t the 1980’s. You may never see a Miami team with that kind of layered content ever again. This team has a veteran quarterback with a massive NIL deal, what is believed to be a top offensive line, quality running backs, a freshman superstar at WR and some pretty good talent around him and a defense playing great under new coordinator Corey Hetherman that was heavily fortified through a sizeable financial investment in the transfer portal. I mean I know there are not many elite NFL first-round picks anymore, but how easy does anyone think it is going to be to show up even this good in future seasons. Miami has to win right now to advance that cause and even after the Louisville loss, the Hurricanes remain positioned to do so. Everybody has to tighten up. Mario Cristobal has never been about excuses. The opportunity is still there to make this a special season and the onus is on the players and coaches to find a way.

MATT SHODELL

Just as Mario Cristobal has implemented his blueprint for success gleaned from Nick Saban, which led to some pretty good seasons at Oregon for him and now seems to be working pretty well at Miami, I laid out my blueprint of expectations before last season. Heading into last season I predicted Miami would not make the playoffs in 2024, would make the playoffs this year but not be ready to compete for a national title, and then would have the roster built to where it needed with top end depth and talent in 2026. I’m actually going to stand by that as we sit here today. I’ve been saying all year that this is not a national championship level roster, and my definition of being in “rebuilding mode” is you are building until you reach that goal roster. Then once you reach that you need to stay in “status quo” mode. So yeah, I think Miami is still in rebuilding mode. There are only a few top 5 round NFL picks on the team (headlined by Rueben Bain and Francis Mauigoa), and there is a lot of young, unproven talent that should be ready to step up next year and beyond with help from some choice transfer portal free agents. Anyone who watched the loss to Louisville will be hard-pressed to say they think this is a championship-level roster. As we sit here today I think it would be disingenuous to say that even with the rebuilding that’s been done that it’s a program that has been rebuilt to reach the level that Cristobal wants and Miami needs. There is another level to reach. It’s on Cristobal to keep building toward it.

STEPHEN WAGNER

The time for rebuilds has long passed. And if you’re discussing a possible rebuild in Year Four of a regime that has recruited at a championship level and poured significant effort and resources to roster building year after year, you’ve got a program in serious trouble (i.e. Florida State, albeit the crap didn’t hit the fan until Year Five for Mike Norvell). This is still very much a team capable of reaching the playoff and competing for the national title and has talent at the correct positions to make a playoff run — a quarterback that can be elite when at his best, an offensive line that should still be one of the country’s best, a high-level WR1 and a defense that can be consistently relied upon to get stops. I still predict Miami will have a second loss somewhere, but considering the parity across the rest of the ACC, I’ve got the Hurricanes reaching the conference championship and sliding into the playoff. If Miami has one loss, I think we’ll see the Canes host a playoff game. Things will get a little dicier if Miami has two, but I think we’ll still see them in the playoff.

LUKE CHANEY

I think the response to this question heavily depends on your definition of what a rebuild is and what it consists of. If you believe a team is done rebuilding when it finally reaches its peak of realistic talent acquisition, then no, I don’t think Miami is finished rebuilding, as I expect its two-deep roster to be better and deeper in the coming years than it is in 2025. However, if you hold the opinion (that I share) that a program’s rebuild is completed when it is ready to contend, then yes, the Hurricanes are no longer in rebuild mode. Miami has one of the top rosters in the country and is projected to send two of its top players to the first round of next year’s NFL Draft. That doesn’t sound like a team in the midst of a rebuild to me. For the Hurricanes to continue the upward trajectory they’ve been on since Mario Cristobal took over as head coach in 2021, they *have* to win more than 10 games and make the College Football Playoffs this year. Anything less would be a failure and would lead to some within the Miami fanbase doubting whether a Cristobal-led program could ever reach college football’s mountaintop.