Mario Cristobal learned a lot from Nick Saban during his time in Tuscaloosa.
After his firing as head coach of FIU in 2012, Cristobal went to “Saban Rehab,” joining the Alabama staff as offensive line coach from 2013-16. On Thursday morning, Cristobal appeared on College GameDay to talk to Saban and the rest of the crew about his Miami Hurricanes’ defeating defending national champion Ohio State in the quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff on Wednesday night in Arlington. The Canes dominated at the line of scrimmage, establishing a rushing attack against OSU’s standout defense and getting constant pressure on Buckeye QB Julian Sayin.
Saban identified UM’s win as years in the making.
“You really built this program a special way, in my opinion, in terms of, you know, your team on the line of scrimmage, whether it’s a defensive line or the offensive line, which I think that’s how you win games this time of year when you can dominate the line of scrimmage,” Saban told his former assistant.
“And your guys have done that tremendously. I mean, they, in both games, against A&M, you ran the ball at will. And last night, Ohio State, who’s supposed to be a really physical team, you guys dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. You built the program that way. How important is that in terms of you guys continuing to make a run?”
Cristobal said his former boss is a big reason why the Canes are built that way.
“Well, I mean, it was one of the greatest lessons under you at Alabama, right? You used to tell us all the time, mass kicks ass, right?” Cristobal said. “So we did get some big, massive guys, and we’re, I guess the best way to say it, Coach, we’re just, we’re getting better. You know, we’re getting better quality football players, better quality human beings, elite competitors, and we’re starting to stack them up.”
The Miami coach elaborated on the character component, noting his older players stuck it out through tough times.
“The best part of our team right now are the guys that got here year one when we were getting our faces kicked in, all right? In 2022, we’re getting beat by Middle Tennessee out there,” Cristobal said. “We’re getting smacked around by teams by 30, 40 points, and they, they’re the foundation, and they’ve been through that. So they’re great leaders. They set the tone on a daily basis, and they sure as hell don’t let people slip.”
"Mass kicks a–." Mario Cristobal took Nick Saban's philosophy with him to Miami pic.twitter.com/nPe8uTnITw
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) January 1, 2026Mario Cristobal points to Nick Saban’s ‘mass kicks ass’ mentality after Miami’s handling of Ohio State Saturday Down South.
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