Mario Cristobal leading Miami to the CFP title game before Oregon validates decision to return to alma mater

Cristobal reaching the title game with Miami before Oregon helps solidify his difficult choice to take the Canes job as the right one

When Mario Cristobal left what many considered a dream job at Oregon to revive a Miami program desperate to return to the national title conversation, questions followed him out of Eugene. Had he walked away from the better job?

Cristobal's decision was never purely about football. There was a deep emotional pull toward Miami, where he could coach his alma mater and return home to be closer to his ailing mother.

Four years later, Cristobal has delivered on his promise, guiding the Hurricanes to their first national championship game in more than two decades. Awaiting them is No. 1 Indiana, which eliminated Cristobal's former team to reach the title game.

The "CristoBowl" would have written themselves had Oregon and Miami met for the title, but with the Ducks exiting the College Football Playoff yet again while still chasing their first title-game appearance since 2015, Cristobal's once-controversial decision has proven to be more than an emotional one.

Where Mark Richt and Manny Diaz helped restart investment in Miami football, Cristobal has taken the program another step forward, fully embracing the NIL and transfer portal era to return the Hurricanes to the national title stage.

If asked this week, the hyper-focused Cristobal would likely bristle at the suggestion that he cares about reaching a title game before Oregon. Still, even if he won't admit it publicly, the run has reinforced that leaving the Ducks was a sound football decision -- not merely one made from the heart.

Miami's playoff run has also been about shedding baggage. Quarterback Carson Beck's legacy-defining drive against Ole Miss reshaped the narrative around his ability to deliver in big moments. Cristobal, long labeled an elite recruiter and evaluator with shaky game management, has had his team prepared and poised in late-game situations throughout the postseason.

Next Monday night, the Hurricanes face the sport's ultimate test: the top-ranked, undefeated Indiana Hoosiers -- a sentence that still feels surreal, yet true.

Oregon fans won't allow much of a victory lap if Miami meets the same fate as the Ducks against Indiana. But if Cristobal can guide the Hurricanes to a stunning upset over the team that dismantled his former program, the conversation around his standing among the game's elite coaches will have to be rewritten.