Where the Miami Hurricanes landed in fourth College Football Playoff ranking of the season
The Miami Hurricanes rebounded from their first loss of the season with a resounding 42-14 win over Wake Forest on Saturday. That, coupled with a slew of ranked teams losing last weekend, helped the Hurricanes move up in the College Football Playoff ranking.
The Hurricanes on Tuesday checked in at No. 6 in the fourth of five weekly rankings picked by the 13-person selection committee before the final rankings on Dec. 8 that will ultimately determine the 12-team playoff field that will compete for a national title. That’s up two spots from their No. 8 ranking in the poll last week. The rise was aided by losses by the Indiana Hoosiers (to Ohio State) and the Alabama Crimson Tide (to Oklahoma), both of whom were ranked about Miami last week.
And as the highest ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team, the Hurricanes continue to slot in the No. 3 seed in the 12-team playoff and thus would have a first-round bye based on how this week’s rankings unfolded.
(The ranking assumes Miami wins the ACC Championship.)
The Hurricanes are 10-1 this season, including 6-1 in ACC play. They will make the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 7 if they win their regular-season finale at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on the road against Syracuse. Miami would face the SMU Mustangs for the conference championship and all but assuredly a coveted first-round bye in the playoffs.
How the playoff field will be decided
This is the first season of the 12-team playoff after the field was only four teams for the first 10 years of the playoff format.
The top four seeds in the field will be given to the highest four ranked conference champions, regardless of their actual ranking. Those four teams will receive a first-round bye.
Based on how the rankings unfolded, that would have the Big Ten’s Oregon (No. 1 in the ranking), SEC’s Texas (No. 3 in the ranking but No. 2 seed because two Big Ten teams are ahead of it in the ranking), the ACC’s Miami (No. 6 ranking but seeded third as the highest-ranked team in the ACC) and the Mountain West’s Boise State (No. 11 ranking, but the fourth-highest ranked projected conference champion), as the four teams to receive byes should they win their conference championship.
The fifth-highest ranked conference champion will also receive an automatic bid into the playoff field. If that team is outside of the top 12 in the final poll, it will be given the No. 12 slot in the playoff bracket. This week, that’s Arizona State of the Big 12, which was ranked No. 16.
The final seven spots will go the next seven highest ranked teams not already in the field.
Teams seeded 5-8 will host first-round games at their home site on either Dec. 20 or 21. No. 5 hosts No. 12, No. 6 hosts No. 11, No. 7 hosts No. 10 and No. 8 hosts No. 9.
The first-round matchups based on Tuesday’s ranking:
Ohio State (No. 2 ranking, No. 5 seed) vs. Arizona State (No. 16 ranking and No. 12 seed); Penn State (No. 4 ranking, No. 6 seed) vs. Indiana (No. 10 ranking, No. 11 seed); Notre Dame (No. 5 ranking, No. 7 seed) vs. SMU (No. 9 ranking, No. 10 seed); and Georgia (No. 7 ranking, No. 8 seed) vs. Tennessee (No. 8 ranking, No. 9 seed).
The four quarterfinals will be played at the Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. kickoff), Peach Bowl (Jan. 1, 1 p.m.), Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 5 p.m.) and Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m.).
The semifinals are at the Orange Bowl (Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m.) and Cotton Bowl (Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m.). The national championship is Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
The full top 25
No. 1 Oregon Ducks
No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes
No. 3 Texas Longhorns
No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions
No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
No. 6 Miami Hurricanes
No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs
No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers
No. 9 SMU Mustangs
No. 10 Indiana Hoosiers
No. 11 Boise State Broncos
No. 12 Clemson Tigers
No. 13 Alabama Crimson Tide
No. 14 Ole Miss Rebels
No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks
No. 16 Arizona State
No. 17 Tulane Green Wave
No. 18 Iowa State Cyclones
No. 19 BYU Cougars
No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies
No. 21 Missouri Tigers
No. 22 UNLV Rebels
No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini
No. 24 Kansas State Wildcats
No. 25 Colorado Buffaloes
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 8:39 PM.
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