Colin Cowherd isn’t backing off his preseason read on the national title picture, even after Notre Dame knocked off Miami and handed the Hurricanes their first loss of the year.
The Fox Sports host said Sunday morning on X that the Irish and Hurricanes are still his championship matchup. “Nothing I saw last night changes that opinion,” Cowherd wrote, adding that he had said before the season the two programs “would meet for the natty” and that “only Georgia is close.”
He had Notre Dame picked to win it all before the season even began. “I picked Notre Dame to win the whole thing. They’re going to be my national champion,” he said in late August.
Saturday night in South Bend, CJ Carr made that belief look a lot less bold. The Notre Dame quarterback went 29 of 40 for 319 yards and three touchdowns, with Micah Gilbert catching two of those scores and Jordan Faison hauling in the other. By early in the third quarter, the Irish had built a 24-3 cushion.
Miami made a push and got within a touchdown, but Notre Dame safety Luke Talich came up with a late third-quarter interception of Darian Mensah. Talich also later knocked away a pass to tight end Elija Lofton that could have tied the game.
The result carried real weight for Notre Dame, which came into the weekend ranked No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings, a spot that surprised ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit. Afterward, head coach Marcus Freeman called it “as special of a moment, as special of an outcome that I’ve been a part of since I’ve been the head coach here.”
Notre Dame closes the regular season with Boston College, SMU and Syracuse still on the schedule.
Cowherd did leave himself one escape hatch on Miami. “I would take the Canes in a rematch if Malachi Toney plays,” he wrote.
That caveat matters. Toney, Miami’s sophomore receiver, suffered a high-ankle sprain in practice Wednesday and had tightrope surgery Thursday. He led the ACC through eight games with 73 catches, 1,027 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns, and CBS Sports reported he’s expected to miss four to six weeks.
That timetable could have him back for the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 5 and keeps him in play for the postseason. Without him, Miami felt the loss in the first half, which ended with the Hurricanes down 17-3. Mensah settled in after that and threw three second-half touchdown passes, including two to Duke transfer Cooper Barkate.
Miami’s regular season ends with home games against Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
Georgia, meanwhile, did more than just stay in Cowherd’s good graces. The Bulldogs hammered Ole Miss 42-7 on Saturday, with Gunner Stockton throwing four touchdown passes and adding another on the ground. Georgia led 28-0 at halftime, ran for 295 yards and snapped Ole Miss’ 16-game home winning streak.
It was also Kirby Smart’s first win at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, and it came just days after Urban Meyer called Georgia the best team in college football.
The College Football Playoff selection committee will unveil its second rankings Tuesday at approximately 9 p.m. ET on ESPN, and Georgia has a strong case to jump Miami for the No. 1 spot.
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Colin Cowherd Just Gave Notre Dame Fans New CFP Ammo
Colin Cowherds latest gripe with the College Football Playoff rankings gave Notre Dame fans a fresh talking point, and it came with a familiar complaint: the Irish sitting at No. 11 while Indiana is all the way up at No. 4. Cowherd took aim at the committees logic, arguing that Notre Dames loss to BYU should not be treated the same way others are treating it because of the controversial finish and the Big 12s admitted officiating mistakes.
He also pointed to Notre Dames statistical edge over Indiana and questioned how the committee is weighing signature wins and overall rsums. For Irish fans, it is the kind of outside validation that does not change the ranking itself, but does add fuel to the belief that the case for Notre Dame is stronger than the number next to its name suggests. [Read more 🡒]
College GameDays Notre Dame Split Will Fuel Miami Debate
ESPNs College GameDay made South Bend the center of the college football world Saturday morning, setting the stage for Notre Dames matchup with Miami and giving the Irish another national spotlight before kickoff. The usual cast of Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit was joined by guest picker Jason Sudeikis, and the shows weekly picks segment quickly turned the game into a referendum on how the panel sees these two teams.
Four of the five panelists leaned toward Notre Dame, but Howard went the other way and backed Miami, a split that should only add to the conversation around a game already loaded with attention. For Notre Dame, the broader takeaway is clear enough: the Irish have the kind of stage where every national voice gets amplified, and even a single dissenting pick can sharpen the debate before the first snap. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Just Got Pulled Into Notre Dames Weirdest GameDay Moment
College GameDays Kicking Is Easy segment brought an extra jolt to Notre Dames Saturday atmosphere, and it centered on pre-med junior Michael Milano. The setup was simple enough on paper: a 33-yard field goal attempt, a big crowd, and the kind of national-stage pressure that can make even a routine kick feel enormous.
Milano missed his first try, then got a second crack with tackling dummies set up as blockers, including one with Michael Irvins face on it. He made the kick the second time, turning a quirky in-game stunt into a million-dollar finish and adding one more strange, memorable chapter to a GameDay scene Notre Dame fans will be talking about for a while. [Read more 🡒]