Those inside Miami’s football program knew the only controllable factor entering rivalry weekend was the Hurricanes’ game Saturday at No. 22 Pittsburgh. The goal was to play as close to perfect as possible in an effort to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee.
And anything that happens from there in the bevy of ACC Championship scenarios and two-loss teams ahead of Miami in the current rankings was beyond the Hurricanes’ scope. Following a dominant 38-7 showing, Mario Cristobal and the rest of his coaching staff and players will be glued to live scores on the flight home to try and map out positive outcomes that could benefit the Hurricanes later next week when the penultimate playoff rankings are revealed.
“This is a College Football Playoff team,” Cristobal said after the game Saturday. “We’ve all seen it. We know it. Proud of the way our guys came out, dominated from start to finish. We left a lot of points on the board as well. We’re really starting to click. Complete dominance. We’ve got great players in all phases, and we’re playing great football in all phases. The best part about football is you get to settle it on the field, where head-to-head is always the No. 1 criterion.”
Miami would play for a conference title only if Virginia Tech beats Virginia and California upsets SMU on Saturday night. That would give the Hurricanes a chance to secure an automatic bid next weekend in Charlotte. The more likely scenario is the wait-and-see frustration that comes with being one of several at-large hopefuls at 10-2 overall.
Where Miami is ranked Tuesday night is paramount since there’s no additional game to move up in the eyes of the committee. Others could possibly move out — namely 10th-ranked Alabama if the Crimson Tide beat Auburn then lose to Georgia in the SEC title game, and No. 11 BYU should the Cougars get crushed by Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship.
Without a conference crown, Miami needs to get to No. 10 in the final rankings to reach the playoff and the Hurricanes will be battling for that spot with the Crimson Tide, Cougars and now Texas, whose impressive win over No. 3 Texas A&M on Friday night was a signature victory for the Longhorns.
For the first time this season, the committee ranked Miami in the same tier — or pod — as No. 9 Notre Dame last week, which is significant given the Hurricanes’ last two victories over common opponents that the Fighting Irish also dominated. Notre Dame was still ahead of Miami by a significant margin, despite its head-to-head loss to the Hurricanes in the opener.
Notre Dame plays at Stanford on Saturday night as a heavy favorite and will likely finish 10-2.
Miami’s clearest playoff path
- A loss Saturday by Alabama, Oklahoma or Notre Dame
- Significant game control edge over BYU + Texas should final at-large spot come down to those
- A loss by BYU to Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship Game
- A loss by Virginia and SMU to get into next week’s ACC Championship Game
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