Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes pulled off an actual Michael Jordan-type performance against the Ole Miss Rebels in their 31–27 playoff win last weekend. The word around Coral Gables is that almost half of the roster was battling the flu, making the victory a testament to their grit.

“BREAKING NEWS: 20 players on the Miami Hurricanes football team played the Fiesta Bowl with the flu,” Natty Bound Hurricanes Jay posted on X. “Unbelievable effort by the Miami Hurricanes.”

Right before the game, news broke that 20 players were battling the flu, putting their ability to play in jeopardy. Instead of sitting out to recover, they went toe-to-toe against the SEC’s best team and gave us the best playoff game of the season so far. Head coach Mario Cristobal mentioned that the team really had to battle through a ton of adversity, including this widespread flu.

“Thank God for everything first and foremost,” Cristobal said last Thursday. “Secondly, I want to give a lot of credit to our players. I can’t tell you how many of our players were sick or had the flu or had issues. We kept talking about how we’re going to find a way. We’re focused on just enjoying this one, but we gotta get focused on 1-0 one more time.”

The team has not officially commented on the origin of the outbreak, leaving the exact cause of the epidemic unknown. It seems like a classic case of bad luck and terrible timing, right when they were supposed to play in one of the biggest games of their lives.

The team’s bad luck was compounded by a particularly severe flu season sweeping the United States, with their home state of Florida being a hotspot with a ‘Very High’ rate of spread, making the outbreak in the locker room almost inevitable.

According to various reports, seven flu outbreaks were reported in as many Florida counties, including Escambia, Flagler, Indian River, Polk, Seminole, St. Johns, and St. Lucie.

Some of their best players were among the sick, including star running back Mark Fletcher. You would never have guessed he was ill based on his performance, though, as he still managed to tear it up with 113 rushing yards.

The game itself was a real nail-biter, a classic back-and-forth contest between the number 10 seed Hurricanes and the number 6 seed Rebels. Miami just kept fighting and managed to score the winning touchdown in the final minute of the game.

Now the big question is about their recovery time. That crucial win helped the Hurricanes punch their ticket to their first national championship appearance since 2003. With the big game on January 19 approaching quickly, fans are hoping all the players can recover and get healthy in time to face Curt Cignetti’s No. 1-ranked Indiana Hoosiers.

This display of grit is starting to make an impact where it counts: with the bookies. While Indiana remains the favorite, the narrative around Miami’s resilience is beginning to shift perceptions ahead of the championship.

The Miami Hurricanes fight to earn the bookies’ respect

We’re one week from the College Football Playoff National Championship, with record-high ticket prices. Yet, it was a rocky road, and both teams took unique paths to reach this point.

Miami barely made the playoffs as the final at-large team after a 10-2 regular season. Mario Cristobal then proved everyone wrong by beating Texas A&M, Ohio State, and Ole Miss. Indiana, meanwhile, dominated all year, finished as Big Ten champions, and easily rolled past Alabama and Oregon.

Because of that dominance, sportsbooks strongly favor Indiana. When the matchup was first announced, Indiana was a 7.5-point favorite. As the game has gotten closer, bettors have continued backing the Hoosiers, pushing the line to 8.5 points. The total points line also increased slightly, which suggests oddsmakers expect steady scoring but not a shootout.

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What this basically means is that, despite being as dominant as the Indiana Hoosiers are, they are not expected to steamroll Miami as they did against Oregon and Alabama. For some bettors, the outcome remains unresolved.