Miami wrapped up its third season under Mario Cristobal by losing three of its last four games, firing defensive coordinator Lance Guidry and entering the offseason with a big question mark at quarterback.

Where did things go wrong? What should we take away from it all? And what needs to happen next for the Hurricanes to avoid tumbling back to mediocrity with Heisman finalist Cam Ward off to the NFL?

Here are eight thoughts on 2024 and what’s ahead in 2025.

1. It’s hard to categorize Cristobal’s third season as anything other than a golden opportunity missed.

Yes, there was significant progress, and that can’t be ignored. Miami won 10 games for only the second time since joining the ACC in 2004 and had the No. 1 scoring offense in the country (43.9 points per game). At this point last year, most Miami fans would’ve considered that a successful season after 5-7 and 7-6 campaigns in Cristobal’s first two years on the job.

But players like Ward are special. Six Miami quarterbacks have been invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony dating to 1984: Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Gino Torretta, Ken Dorsey and Ward. The first five won national championships at Miami. With Ward, the Hurricanes failed to make an expanded 12-team College Football Playoff or even qualify for the ACC Championship Game. That’s going to sting for a while.

2. Miami’s downfall was its defense. Cristobal was confident he had acquired enough talent before the season to complement Ward and what he expected to be an elite offense. The problem was Cristobal failed to correctly assess that his secondary was in bad need of upgrades. Miami, instead, spent most of its name, image and likeness funds on acquiring veteran defensive linemen, several of whom didn’t exactly pan out.

Washington transfer Mishael Powell, a former Huskies walk-on, wasn’t the problem in the secondary. Powell made the biggest play in Miami’s only win over its last four games with a pick six against Wake Forest. The issue was the Hurricanes didn’t develop enough of their own recruits in the defensive backfield. Guidry, who was fired after his second season in Miami, coached the safeties and hired former Marshall assistant Chevis Jackson to handle the cornerbacks this year.

Miami’s secondary was a collective mess when it was needed most. Go back and watch the defense on third-and-long in the second half at Georgia Tech against a backup quarterback and against Syracuse in the regular-season finale.

Guidry deserves some blame, obviously. Miami played more man coverage than anyone in the ACC (46.7 percent of snaps), according to TruMedia, and allowed 12 touchdowns while in man (tied for third most in the league). The Canes weren’t good in zone coverage either. There were far too many instances of receivers going in motion before the snap that resulted in someone being left uncovered. You expect freshmen like O.J. Frederique to make those mistakes. But it happened to veterans, too, which makes you question what they were or were not learning in the film room.

3. Let’s not make this all doom and gloom, though. Miami had some other positive moments in 2024 aside from Ward.

Homegrown receiver Xavier Restrepo topped the 1,000-yard mark for the second consecutive season. Miami has had one other 1,000-yard receiver (Charleston Rambo) since 2015. It helps in recruiting when you can point to significant achievements like that.

Miami led the ACC with 5.7 yards per carry, up significantly from when Cristobal first took over in 2022 and the team ranked ninth in the league (3.7). Damien Martinez became the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Mark Walton in 2016.

If you need proof Cristobal has significantly improved Miami’s offensive line in his three years on the job, look no further than those numbers. There’s a standard to maintain, and that standard should be held up with four starting linemen back in 2025.

4. The big questions: Who replaces Ward at quarterback and whom will Cristobal hire to remedy the defense?

There’s no doubt quarterback is the most important position on the field. It always will be. But having an elite defense matters, too. National semifinalists Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas and Penn State rank Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 7 in scoring defense. All four allow fewer than 16 points per game.

Last year, national champion Michigan led the country in scoring defense at 10.4 points per game. In 2022, national champion Georgia finished fifth (14.3 ppg).

Here’s how Miami has ranked in scoring defense over the last nine years:

• 68th in 2024 (25.3 ppg)
• 44th in 2023 (22.8 ppg)
• 67th in 2022 (26.8 ppg)
• 84th in 2021 (28.4 ppg)
• 51st in 2020 (27.0 ppg)
• 23rd in 2019 (20.2 ppg)
• 18th in 2018 (19.5 ppg)
• 28th in 2017 (21.0 ppg)
• 12th in 2016 (18.5 ppg)

Having a great quarterback is cool. But building a championship defense with talents like Vince Wilfork, Jonathan Vilma, Antrel Rolle and Ed Reed is probably more important.

5. Landing a quality starting quarterback out of the transfer portal, though, is necessary if Miami is going to have any realistic shot of contending for a Playoff spot. Sophomore Emory Williams inspired very little confidence with his performance in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

The problem is most of the top quarterbacks are off the board. Miami native Fernando Mendoza — the No. 4 prospect in our QB portal rankings — left Cal to join his younger brother at Indiana. Ex-Washington State starter John Mateer followed his offensive coordinator to Oklahoma. I’m not sure Miami really was in line to land either, but they were the biggest names the Canes showed an interest in.

The best-case scenario at this point for Miami is that someone like Georgia’s Carson Beck or Texas’ Quinn Ewers — both NFL prospects — decides to come back to college for one more season and follow Ward’s example of doing so in Coral Gables.

6. Otherwise, the 2025 season will be about the program Cristobal has been building through his high school recruiting and portal efforts.

But many of his imports have already left via the portal or exhausted their eligibility.

Only five of the 15 high school recruits Cristobal signed in the Class of 2022 are still at Miami — linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, safety Markeith Williams, left guard Matthew McCoy, defensive tackle Ahmad Moten and right guard Anez Cooper.

Only half of Miami’s 26-member 2023 recruiting class still calls Coral Gables home. That’s a group of mostly backups to this point, anchored by starting right tackle Francis Mauigoa, defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. and running back Mark Fletcher.

That puts a lot of pressure on Cristobal’s 2024 class — which ranked No. 4 in the 247Sports Composite — to deliver next year. Frederique, tight end Elija Lofton, running back Jordan Lyle and receiver Joshisa Trader definitely flashed as first-year freshmen.

But now Cristobal and his staff have to show what they can do with all of those players serving as the foundation.

7. The majority of Miami’s additions through the portal have been productive contributors under Cristobal in the past, which is why you should be fairly optimistic about the eight transfers he’s landed since the end of the season.

Miami hit the secondary hard and probably isn’t done yet. All four defensive backs acquired — Ethan O’Connor (Washington State), Emmanuel Karnley (Arizona), Charles Brantley (Michigan State) and Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State) — started at least half of their team’s games last season, and three (Karnley, O’Connor and Poyser) have three seasons of eligibility left.

Miami lost talented second-year tight end Riley Williams, who returned home to Oregon State, and replaced him with Alex Bauman, a 25-game starter at Tulane.

Starting center Zach Carpenter has been replaced by TCU’s James Brockermeyer — making it three former starting centers from Power 4 programs acquired via the portal in the last three offseasons.

Defensive lineman David Blay, a first-team All-Conference USA selection at Louisiana Tech, helps make up for the loss of Simeon Barrow inside and will team with returning veterans Akheem Mesidor, Bain and Moten.

CJ Daniels, meanwhile, comes over from LSU and provides a veteran presence (30 career starts) to a really, really, really young group of wide receivers.

8. Do I believe the 2025 team — as it’s currently constructed — will be as good as the 2024 Hurricanes? No. But at this time last year, Ward was headed to the NFL and we had no idea who was going to be the starting quarterback.

The transfer portal remains open for graduate students and for players on teams still in the Playoff. It also reopens again for everyone in April.

Few imagined Florida State would finish 2-10 after going 13-1 in 2023.

Few believed SMU would play for the ACC title and make the Playoff in its first year in the league.

All I’m counting on is for more of the unexpected.

(Photo of Mario Cristobal: Rich Barnes / Imagn Images)