The Miami Hurricanes' chances of making the College Football Playoff after losses by BYU and Alabama
The Miami Hurricanes can at least feel they have a chance to make the College Football Playoff.
Two of the games on Championship Saturday went their way when the Texas Tech Red Raiders defeated the BYU Cougars and the Georgia Bulldogs cruised past the Alabama Crimson Tide. Both games were won in easy fashion, which could help the Hurricanes when the final CFP results are announced Sunday.
The Hurricanes entered the day on the outside looking in because they trailed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It helped that the Cougars and Crimson Tide were both ranked ahead of UM. Their losses could lead to the Hurricanes jumping past both teams but that will be determined by the selection committee. They also have to look at Notre Dame being ranked ahead of them despite winning the head-to-head game this season.
Here's a look back at earlier today:
Here's what some national pundits have said about the situation:
Joel Klatt, Fox Sports: "Every tiebreaker in sports is head-to-head. "It's known to man on the face of the planet. What is the first criteria in the tiebreaker? Head to head. Yeah. So what are we doing? And yes at some point they're going to be compared directly. Here's why Notre Dame is in a pickle. And actually I would bet on Notre Dame missing the playoffs, even though they're not going to play another game and Miami is not going to play another game. The canary in the coal mine right now is BYU. They're protecting Notre Dame from a direct comparison with Miami, but BYU is going to move because they play another game. They're going to either pass Notre Dame and knock them out if they beat Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game, or they will lose and probably fall behind Miami, thus putting Miami and Notre Dame right next to each other. And then the committee will have no other option."
ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt: "I don't want to hear it's a data point. It's not a data point, it's THE data point. We use comparative math and schedule strength when we have an absence of anything to compare. Notre Dame and Miami played and I like Notre Dame. They played and they lost. If it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."
Sports talk show host Colin Cowherd: "Notre Dame is in and Miami and Texas are out. And Miami has an impressive win, Texas has several but I guess Notre Dame doesn't have a really, really bad loss. Texas has multiple big wins but that Florida loss, that's the capper. And Notre Dame doesn't have a great win .. I'd put Miami in. I think Texas deserves a shot. I don't have a problem with Notre Dame being in but it is remarkable that Duke at 7-5 is in the ACC championship game and if they win, they not only don't get in, nobody in the conference does."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of MiamiRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com