Miami head coach Mario Cristobal suggested that the Heisman Trophy should be awarded after all postseason games, not before the bowl season. He argued that performances in playoff and bowl games offer a fuller picture of a player’s impact and should influence college football’s top individual honor.

For the second consecutive year, Miami boasts a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback. In 2024, it was Cam Ward, who went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft after finishing fourth in the Heisman race.

This season, head coach Mario Cristobal is relying on former Georgia transfer Carson Beck to lead the Hurricanes’ offense. Beck has quickly emerged as one of the nation’s top players and currently holds the second-best odds to win the 2025 Heisman Trophy at +600, per BetMGM—trailing only Oregon’s Dante Moore at +500.

Although Mario Cristobal hasn’t discussed this year’s Heisman race with Carson Beck and doesn’t intend to the Miami head coach did share his thoughts on how the process could be improved.

Cristobal suggested shifting the Heisman Trophy ceremony from its traditional spot on the second weekend of December to a later date, after all postseason games have concluded. He believes that timing change would allow voters to consider a player’s full body of work, including performances in the most meaningful games of the season.

Cristobal noted that he hasn’t talked with Carson Beck about this year’s Heisman race and doesn’t intend to. However, the fourth-year Miami head coach did propose a noteworthy change to the way the Heisman Trophy is awarded.

He suggested pushing the ceremony back from its usual date in mid-December to a time after the postseason has concluded. In Cristobal’s view, that adjustment would allow the award to better reflect players’ performances in the most crucial games of the year.

“The only thing I’d wish about the Heisman Trophy is it was awarded when all the games are done,” Cristobal said on Wednesday’s episode of the Pardon My Take podcast. “That whole (giving out the) award before the postseason games are played is absolutely bizarre to me. Like I can’t comprehend it and never will.”

The Heisman Trophy ceremony has long taken place shortly after the end of the college football regular season, typically following the conference championship games. Since 1977, the event has consistently been scheduled for either the first or second Saturday in December.

The only deviation from that tradition occurred in 2020, a year heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. That season, Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith received his Heisman Trophy on January 5, 2021, during a virtual ceremony broadcast from Tuscaloosa, marking the lone instance the presentation was delayed beyond December.

Despite objections from coaches such as Mario Cristobal and a number of outspoken college football fans, there’s currently no real movement toward rescheduling the Heisman Trophy ceremony. For now, it seems the event’s traditional timing will remain unchanged.

Miami boasts two Heisman Trophy winners in its storied history, both of whom played quarterback. Vinny Testaverde captured the award in 1986, followed by Gino Torretta in 1992.

Interestingly, Mario Cristobal was a senior offensive tackle on that 1992 Hurricanes team led by Torretta. Torretta received the Heisman on December 12, 1992—just about three weeks before top-ranked Miami fell to No. 2 Alabama, 34-13, in the national championship game.