The Miami Hurricanes have one week left to prove they deserve a spot in the College Football Playoff, and hope is still alive.
Miami is No. 12 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, which likely puts them on the outside of the playoff field. But UM could still make its way in.
The Hurricanes are currently in the projected bracket, but that is because they are the top-ranked ACC team. The winner of the ACC title game will likely take that spot, and UM is unlikely to play for the conference title.
Miami trails several fellow two-loss teams, including No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 10 Alabama. The Fighting Irish obliterated Syracuse last week. Oklahoma beat previously ranked Missouri in a low-scoring game. Alabama rolled to a win over an FCS team.
Miami moved one spot ahead of Utah after the Utes escaped what would have been a fatal home loss against Kansas State, winning in the game’s final minute.
The Hurricanes are also threatened from behind by No. 14 Vanderbilt, which faces No. 19 Tennessee in the final week of the season. No. 16 Texas could make a case for a playoff spot despite having three losses if it beats No. 3 Texas A&M this week.
The Hurricanes have been at the center of a national debate about their placement in the College Football Playoff rankings compared to Notre Dame. Miami has consistently ranked several spots behind the Fighting Irish since the committee started ranking the teams at the start of November even though UM and Notre Dame have the same record and Miami won the head-to-head matchup in Week 1.
The selection committee chairs Mack Rhoades and now Hunter Yurachek have said the difference between the teams is that the Hurricanes lost to then-unranked Louisville and SMU, but the Fighting Irish lost to UM and Texas A&M. SMU is now ranked in the top 25 and could reach the playoffs for the second consecutive year if it makes the ACC title game and wins.
Now Notre Dame appears to be a near-lock for the playoff, while Miami is battling for one of the last at-large berths (barring an unlikely appearance in the ACC title game).
“There’s one scenario that matters — just one — and that’s us finding a way to be 1-0,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday. “That’s it. Again, (I am) a 100 percent believer, as football has always been, in the field test. That’s always the most important test. And we get one weekly, unless you have a bye week.”
Miami quarterback Carson Beck, who played for three College Football Playoff qualifiers (and two national champions) at Georgia, said he believes the Hurricanes have bounced back well from the losses they suffered earlier in the season.
“I think what I’ve said since the beginning of the season is the true testament of a team is how they respond when they face adversity, and we faced adversity this year,” Beck said.
“We maybe slipped up a little bit and maybe didn’t play our best, and we fell short a couple of times, and adversity was right in our face. I don’t know, you can go look at the games. We’ve responded in what I believe to be an amazing way. Guys are in here. The energy is high at practice. The energy is high in workouts and film. Guys are showing up earlier, staying later. Just the time commitment that you see from this team and the care factor from everybody is at an all-time high after facing that adversity.
“Again, like I said, the true testament of a team is when they face adversity. And I feel like we’ve really been able to show who we are, and I feel like that holds a lot of weight.”
Here is this week’s College Football Playoff rankings:
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Georgia
5. Texas Tech
6. Oregon
7. Ole Miss
8. Oklahoma
9. Notre Dame
10. Alabama
11. BYU
12. Miami
13. Utah
14. Vanderbilt
15. Michigan
16. Texas
17. USC
18. Virginia
19. Tennessee
20. Arizona State
21. SMU
22. Pittsburgh
23. Georgia Tech
24. Tulane
25. Arizona
This story will be updated.