Miami’s impressive season had them in the College Football Playoff picture for most of the season.
But with a big loss to Syracuse, they’re now on the outside looking in after Tuesday’s rankings/bracket reveal, which had the Hurricanes as the first team out.
This news didn’t sit well with Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich, who appeared to be gobsmacked by the latest playoff picture.
What particularly stood out to him was that Miami — which was ranked 12th but as the last team out — was below three-loss Alabama, the first team in at No. 11.
Arizona State, at No. 15, would, in theory, take the No. 12 spot as the Big 12 automatic qualifier if it wins the conference championship game.
“Really ?? ….what put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and GT team that just took UGA to 8OT),” he wrote on X. “Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by OU, and beat FCS Mercer).”
The potential fatal blow for Miami came in a 42-38 road loss over the weekend to No. 22 Syracuse, which now will likely keep them out of the 12-team playoff.
This comes amid Miami’s first 10-win season since 2017, as it seemed poised most of the way to make the postseason.
Now, according to the CFP selection committee head, there’s not much for Miami to do.
“Any team that is not playing right now, we don’t have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked, and so that is set in terms of how we see them going into the final week of championship week,” Warde Manuel, the CFP selection committee chairman said on ESPN. “There’s nothing that’s going to change for us to evaluate them any differently than we have now.
“Those teams who are not playing cannot be adjusted in terms of where they are compared to other teams that are not playing, but the championship [game] teams we will evaluate that data point to determine if there needs to be any movement, based on how the performance of the game goes.”
In the same vein as Radakovich, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement on Tuesday that he disagrees with Miami being kept out of the expanded playoffs.
While Phillips was happy to see SMU ranked at 8, the Hurricanes outside the bracket was something he was not on board with.
“Miami has more wins and fewer losses than the team directly ahead of them and a dominant victory over an SEC team whose late-season surge includes a win over No. 13 Ole Miss,” Phillips said in a statement. “Moreover, with two losses by a combined nine points — to a ranked Syracuse team and a Georgia Tech team that just took No. 5 Georgia to eight overtimes — Miami absolutely deserves better from the Committee.
“As we look ahead to the final rankings, we hope the Committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field. We will continue to look forward to this weekend, when Clemson and SMU have an opportunity to earn an ACC championship and represent the conference in the CFP!”
