Miami coach Mario Cristobal presented his case for the College Football Playoff on Tuesday morning, urging the selection committee to focus on “the facts” when deciding if the Hurricanes deserve one of the 12 playoff spots.
However, the committee had a different view, and it seems Miami won’t make the playoff.
The Hurricanes (No. 14 AP, 10-2, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) were ranked 12th in the latest CFP rankings on Tuesday night, falling behind Alabama, which has three losses. Right now, Alabama is projected to get the final at-large spot in the 12-team playoff.
“Any team that is not playing right now, we don’t have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked,” said Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee and athletic director at Michigan, on ESPN. “And so, that is set in terms of how we see them. … There’s nothing that’s going to change.”
This means that Miami, Mississippi, and South Carolina — ranked 12th, 13th, and 14th respectively — are unlikely to make the playoff since none of these teams will have a chance to improve their position by playing another game.
One of Miami’s arguments for making the playoff was that their two losses were by a total of nine points — a 28-23 loss to Georgia Tech (which finished 7-5) and a 42-38 loss to Syracuse (which ended 9-3). In contrast, Alabama had a 24-3 loss to Oklahoma, which finished 6-6.
“We won 10 games this year and not many teams have,” Cristobal said on WQAM, the Hurricanes’ flagship station. “And in our losses, those losses came down to one possession. That’s a very different resume than the 9-3 teams.”
This weekend’s conference championship games — including Clemson vs. SMU in the ACC, UNLV vs. Boise State in the Mountain West, Iowa State vs. Arizona State in the Big 12, Georgia vs. Texas in the SEC, and Penn State vs. Oregon in the Big Ten — will play a key role in deciding which teams make the playoff. However, Manuel said that teams not playing won’t see their ranking improve.
Clemson is ranked No. 17 in the CFP rankings, and if they beat SMU, they will take the ACC’s guaranteed spot in the playoff. But that won’t help Miami or any other team currently outside the playoff picture.
“The awards should go to the teams that are actually winning the games, not the ones that are politicking themselves out of losses,” Cristobal said.
Miami also argued that their season included a strong win over Florida, that they lead the nation in yards and points per game, and that Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Cam Ward led the nation with 36 touchdown passes. They were undefeated at home, and their two losses were close, by a combined nine points.
However, criticisms of Miami’s season include the fact that they did not face any ranked teams during those weeks and that their defense allowed at least 31 points in five of their last eight games.
Despite these defensive struggles, Miami finished the regular season as one of seven teams in the top 25 nationally in both yards per game and yards allowed per game, alongside teams like Indiana, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, and Texas.
“Go to the facts,” Cristobal said just hours before the rankings were announced. “Award football teams for winning football games.”
