The Miami Hurricanes are back in the national spotlight, and nobody is feeling that resurgence more than program legend Michael Irvin. After Miami’s gritty 10-3 win over Texas A&M in the first round of the College Football Playoff at Kyle Field, Irvin’s raw emotion was on full display. As head coach Mario Cristobal wrapped up a postgame interview with ESPN’s Taylor McGregor, Irvin surprised him with a celebratory kiss on the cheek-a moment that instantly went viral and captured just how much this win meant to the Miami faithful.
For Irvin, this wasn’t just about a single playoff win. It was a culmination of belief, pressure, and loyalty-both to the program and to Cristobal.
The two never played together at Miami, but they’re cut from the same cloth. They came up during the Hurricanes’ golden era in the 1980s and '90s, and both have carried the torch for what The U is supposed to represent.
"That was a godfather kiss." 🙌 😂 @michaelirvin88 joins Inside ACCess to talk @CanesFootball's CFP run Wednesday at 5 PM ET 🍿 pic.twitter.com/0hJbdNfxtL
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) December 23, 2025
Irvin’s support for Cristobal runs deep, and during a recent appearance on ESPN’s Inside ACCess podcast, he made it clear why he reacted the way he did.
“I love coach, and I know he loves me,” Irvin said. “Coach called me at the beginning of last year and said, ‘We need you here.
We’ve got young guys working hard, and they need to know what it takes to get where we used to be.’ So I showed up-because he’s our coach.”
That bond goes beyond nostalgia. It’s about trust and shared vision.
Irvin knows what it takes to win at Miami, and he sees that same fire in Cristobal. But he also knows the stakes.
After all, this wasn’t just a playoff game-it was a pressure cooker. Miami went into a hostile Kyle Field environment with only 3,000 tickets allotted to their fans, facing a Texas A&M squad backed by over 100,000 screaming supporters.
Add to that the shadow of former coach Manny Diaz, who recently led Duke to an ACC title, and the pressure on Cristobal was enormous.
“Everyone was ready to jump on my coach,” Irvin said. “Had he lost that game after Manny had won an ACC championship, people would’ve doused him with gasoline and set him on fire. But he stood in that pressure, and he had that team prepared to withstand it.”
And withstand it they did. Despite a string of missed opportunities-multiple missed field goals, a tripped-up Malachi Toney on what looked like a sure punt return touchdown, and other costly miscues-the Hurricanes didn’t fold. That resilience, Irvin believes, is what separates this Miami squad from so many that came before it in the post-Coker era.
“It was just a kiss for the sacrifices the man has made,” Irvin said. “He had better offers, better opportunities, but this was home.
He knew how much it meant to all of us. That was a godfather kiss-‘Yes, godfather,’ that’s what I was saying to coach.”
Cristobal’s journey back to Coral Gables has been anything but linear. After a stint as a Hurricanes assistant in the mid-2000s, he took over at FIU in 2007.
He led the fledgling program to its first bowl win in 2010 and followed it with another strong season, only to be let go after a disappointing 3-9 finish in 2012. From there, he joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama, where he sharpened his craft as an offensive line coach and run-game coordinator.
Then came Oregon.
Cristobal landed in Eugene in 2017, initially as co-offensive coordinator under Willie Taggart. When Taggart bolted for Florida State, Cristobal was promoted to head coach and went on to post a 35-13 record, including a 12-2 season capped by a Rose Bowl victory in 2019.
Oregon, with its Nike-fueled resources and national recruiting reach, is widely viewed as one of the premier jobs in college football. But for Cristobal, the pull of home was too strong.
He returned to Miami ahead of the 2022 season, and while the road hasn’t been smooth-his game management has drawn plenty of criticism-there’s no denying the progress. With a 33-18 record in four seasons and now the program’s first-ever College Football Playoff win, Cristobal has the Hurricanes closer to national relevance than they’ve been in nearly two decades.
Saturday’s win wasn’t just a victory-it was a statement. One that said Miami is no longer just living in the past.
Under Cristobal, they’re building something real. And if you ask Michael Irvin, that kiss wasn’t just about the moment-it was about everything that led up to it.
The belief, the sacrifice, the pressure, and the promise of what’s still to come.