The College Football Playoff committee is adding a new layer to its evaluation process, and it could make life tougher for Miami.
Beginning in late November, the selection committee will weigh a conference-strength metric as part of its comparisons between teams that finish with similar records but face very different league schedules. The idea is to measure how strong a conference is based on the schedule strength of the teams inside it.
That said, the metric is not designed to jump ahead of the committee’s other staples. Quality wins, overall strength of schedule, record strength and what members see on film still sit ahead of it.
Even so, the change matters because it puts more focus on the differences within a single conference. A similar tool has existed before, but this season it will carry more weight.
The shift appears likely to help the SEC and Big Ten the most. SEC coaches spent the offseason pushing back on the way a nine-game conference schedule is being valued, arguing it is not being weighed the way the committee says strength of schedule should be weighed.
Vanderbilt finished 10-2 last season and still was not really in the mix for the final CFP spot. Texas also missed out after going 9-3 and beating playoff teams Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
For the Big 12 and ACC, the new emphasis could create more problems than answers. And for Miami, it adds another wrinkle to an already tricky path.
The Hurricanes made last season’s championship game as a 10-seed at-large, but with the updated playoff format, it looks like they would not even get into the 12-team field this year if everything else stayed the same.
Miami can’t control the ACC schedule or how the rest of the league develops, but the slate isn’t exactly intimidating. The Hurricanes have home games against Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, along with road trips to Clemson, North Carolina, Stanford and Wake Forest.
This season was always going to hinge on the November trip to Notre Dame. Now, a loss there looks like it would leave Miami needing an ACC title to avoid being left out. And if that happens, plenty of fans will be talking about whether Miami should think about leaving the ACC.
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