With the regular season in the books, the Miami Hurricanes are sitting at No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings-and their path to the postseason is hanging by a thread.
At 10-2, Miami has done just about everything it could to put itself in the mix. They opened the season with a statement win over Notre Dame, who currently holds the No. 10 spot.
They closed strong with a road win against Pittsburgh. But despite the résumé, the Hurricanes find themselves on the outside looking in, needing a perfect storm of results-and a little help from the committee-to sneak into the top 10 and land a playoff berth.
Here’s the math: To be in real contention, Miami needs to climb at least two spots. That’s because the final bracket is expected to include either the ACC champion and one Group of 5 team, or potentially two Group of 5 teams.
That means the Hurricanes need to be in the top 10 to have any shot at inclusion. Right now, they’re stuck behind a logjam of teams with the same record, including No.
10 Notre Dame, No. 9 Alabama, and No.
8 Oklahoma.
What makes it even more frustrating for Miami is the head-to-head win over Notre Dame back in Week 1. That should count for something, right? But the committee hasn’t moved the Hurricanes ahead of the Irish, and time is running out.
So now, Miami has to hope for chaos. Specifically, they’ll need BYU (No. 11) and Alabama (No. 9) to lose their conference title games. That opens the door for Miami to potentially slide up-assuming the committee sees their body of work as worthy.
And make no mistake, Miami’s been doing everything it can to make its case. Head coach Mario Cristobal didn’t waste any time after the win over Pitt, jumping on national TV to declare, “This is a College Football Playoff team.
We’ve all seen it. We know it.”
Since then, he’s been on a media blitz-podcasts, radio, you name it-pushing the narrative that Miami belongs.
Cristobal’s not alone. The ACC has been backing the Hurricanes for weeks, and this week, the campaign got some high-profile political support. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both voiced their support, with Rubio even joking during a Cabinet meeting that if Miami gets left out, the entire system should be scrapped and “President Donald Trump is going to have to take over it next year.”
It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it underscores the passion behind this push. Miami feels like it’s done enough. Now it’s up to the results on the field this weekend-and the whims of the selection committee.
Here’s how the current CFP rankings stack up:
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Georgia
- Texas Tech
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Alabama
- Notre Dame
- BYU
- Miami
- Texas
- Vanderbilt
- Utah
- USC
- Virginia
- Arizona
- Michigan
- Tulane
- Houston
- Georgia Tech
- Iowa
- North Texas
- James Madison
It’s a crowded field, and Miami’s margin for error is gone. But if a couple of dominoes fall the right way this weekend, the Hurricanes just might find themselves in the conversation come Selection Sunday. Until then, all they can do is wait-and hope.