Urban Meyer didn’t hold back when he took aim at Miami’s place in the College Football Playoff conversation.
The former coach, who won three national championships in his Hall of Fame career, questioned whether the Hurricanes have done enough to deserve the kind of respect that comes with a top ranking. Miami reached No. 1 in the Associated Press poll earlier this season, but Meyer argued the résumé doesn’t stack up against the sport’s elite.
His biggest issue was the schedule. Meyer said Miami hasn’t faced the kind of weekly grind that would come with an SEC slate, and he pointed to Alabama as the stronger CFP case.
“If you stick them in the Southeastern conference right now, what is Miami's record,” Meyer said on the Triple Option podcast. “On film, `Bama's best version is better than Miami's, especially with Malachi Toney out.”
Miami’s path has gotten even bumpier since the season-ending injury to receiver Malachi Toney and last week’s loss to Notre Dame. Meyer also acknowledged that the Hurricanes were tested earlier in the year against North Carolina and Florida State, but he still came away unconvinced that they belong among the very best teams in college football.
And there is some fuel for that argument in the results. Miami barely escaped North Carolina on the road with a 38-35 win, and two weeks before that, it took double overtime and a last-second knockdown of a desperation pass to edge Florida State 42-35.
The Hurricanes’ best win to this point is a 33-20 victory over Wake Forest, and even that game was far from clean. Their only loss came against Notre Dame, the only ranked opponent they have faced so far.
If Miami wants to quiet the noise, the path is clear: win out and then take the Atlantic Coast Conference title game. That’s a hurdle the Hurricanes have not cleared since joining the league in 2004.
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Miami's Playoff Path Suddenly Looks More Manageable Than Fans Expected
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From Miamis perspective, that matters because the current bracket picture is starting to look more navigable than many fans expected. The article walks through a hypothetical playoff field built off the rankings and weighs how the committee tends to view different conferences, along with the possibility that a few more wins, or another stumble by a rival, could reshape the path before the final decisions are made. [Read more 🡒]