Why Does Mario Cristobal's Miami Hurricanes Take Shots of Cafecito?

Miami went from barely making the College Football Playoff as a tightly contested at-large team over Notre Dame to one win away from taking home the national title.

And Mario Cristobal's team may have a secret weapon fueling it along the way.

Christopher Kamrani and Manny Navarro of The Athletic reported that some of the Hurricanes players have started drinking shots of Cuban espresso—known as "cafecito" in South Florida—during the CFP.

Assistant special teams coach Ferras Isa makes his own brew of cafecito in Miami's equipment room and brings it to road games in his Moka Pot. While the coaching staff regularly drinks it, Isa gave some to the team's kickers, punters and long snappers during the first-round win over Texas A&M.

"He likes to call himself the Cafecito Coordinator," Miami special teams coordinator Danny Kalter said.

Kicker Carter Davis did not partake in the cafecito drinking during the win over the Aggies and went 1-of-4 on his field goals. Those struggles caused him to change his mind and join his fellow specialists, and he since drilled a 49-yard field goal in the quarterfinal win over Ohio State and made a field goal in the semifinal win over Ole Miss.

Even Cristobal said he is hoping to expand Isa's tradition next season after this CFP run.

"I don't want to get into a competitive warfare in Miami as to who makes the best coffee," the head coach joked, "but it's certainly an offseason project that I look forward to delving into."

It's hard to argue with the results, as the Hurricanes look like a completely different team than the one that lost games in October to Louisville and SMU. 

They advanced past a difficult road test with a 10-3 win over the Aggies, stunned the reigning-champion Buckeyes with a dominant defensive performance that included a pick-six from Keionte Scott and then defeated Ole Miss 31-27 with a touchdown run from quarterback Carson Beck in the final minute.

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Now they get to play the national title game in their backyard in Miami, although defeating No. 1 seed and undefeated Indiana will be much easier said than done.

The Hoosiers are coming off a 35-point win over Alabama in the quarterfinals and 34-point win over Oregon in the semifinals. They have been unstoppable throughout the CFP and have Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza leading the way.

It's going to take a lot of cafecito for Miami to pull off the upset.