Will the Hurricanes make the College Football Playoff? What national pundits think
The road to the College Football Playoff national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium is officially about to begin.
The college football season kicks off at noon Saturday with No. 17 Kansas State and No. 22 Iowa State playing in Ireland to start a five-game Week 0 slate. The rest of the country starts next week with a slew of marquee matchups, including the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes hosting No. 6 Notre Dame on Aug. 31.
Now, will this be the Hurricanes’ year to finally get into the playoffs? They came oh so close to cracking the 12-team field last year before dropping two of their final three regular-season games to finish on the outside looking in.
Most national pundits see the Canes making the field in their preseason projections.
Before we take a look at those predictions, a reminder of the playoff format: The top five conference champions automatically make the field. The next seven highest ranked teams get at-large bids to the 12-team field.
This year, however, the seeding will be straight up. Instead of the top four conference champions receiving automatic first-round byes, teams will be seeded by their final ranking in the CFP poll regardless of if they won their conference’s title.
Round 1 matchups will be on home campuses, with the No. 5 team hosting No. 12, No. 6 hosting No. 11, No. 7 hosting No. 10 and No. 8 hosting No. 9.
The quarterfinals are at the Cotton Bowl (Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m.), Orange Bowl (Jan. 1, noon), Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 4 p.m.) and Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1, 8 p.m.). The semifinals are at the Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m.) and Peach Bowl (Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m.). And finally, the national championship is at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
With all that said, here are the projections.
ESPN
Ten of ESPN’s 12 college football reporters have Miami in their projected top 12. Max Olson and Jake Trotter were the lone holdouts. As for the 10 who have Miami in the field...
-Andrea Adelson has Miami as the No. 8 seed, hosting No. 9 Alabama in the first round.
-Kyle Bonagura has Miami as the No. 11 seed, traveling to No. 6 Notre Dame in the first round.
-Bill Connely has Miami as the No. 11 seed, traveling to No. 6 Notre Dame in the first round.
-Heather Dinich has Miami as the No. 9 seed, traveling to No. 8 Alabama in the first round.
-David Hale has Miami as the No. 11 seed, traveling to No. 6 Georgia in the first round.
-Eli Lederman has Miami as the No. 11 seed, traveling to No. 6 Alabama in the first round.
-Adam Rittenberg has Miami as the No. 9 seed, traveling to No. 8 Oregon in the first round.
-Mark Schlabach has Miami as the No. 9 seed, traveling to No. 8 Oregon in the first round.
-Paolo Uggetti has Miami as the No. 10 seed, traveling to No. 7 Oregon in the first round.
-Dave Wilson has Miami as the No. 11 seed, traveling to No. 6 Notre Dame in the first round.
The Athletic
Bruce Feldman, in his preseason prediction published Wednesday, has Miami making the field as the No. 9 seed, winning at No. 8 seed Georgia in the first round and then losing to No. 1 seed and eventual champion Clemson in the quarterfinals.
Feldman’s write-up about the first round: “In the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game, I have No. 9 Miami visiting No. 8 Georgia, which means Carson Beck gets to face his old team. Beck will flourish in offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s system at Miami, and watch out for Canes RB Jordan Lyle. The Bulldogs still have a fierce defense, but I predict Beck handles it and the ACC gets a big win over an SEC powerhouse.”
As for the quarterfinal: “There’s an ACC title game rematch in the quarterfinals when Miami plays No. 1 Clemson. As good as the Canes’ offensive line is, the Tigers’ defensive line gives them some fits, and Klubnik gets the best of an improved Miami secondary.”
Elsewhere at the Athletic...
-In their all-staff prediction article on Aug. 19, two of their 28 panel members predicted Miami to win the ACC and 14 of the 28 have the Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff field.
-The outlet’s projection model predicts Miami as the No. 10 seed in its most likely bracket. In that model, Miami travels to play No. 7 seed Oregon in the first round and would face No. 2 seed Clemson in the quarterfinals should it advance. It gives Miami a 35-percent chance to make the playoffs but a less than one-percent chance to win it all.
CBS Sports
CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford’s Aug. 14 projection has Miami as the No. 9 seed in the field, traveling to play No. 8 seed Texas Tech in the first round. Should the Hurricanes win, they would play No. 1 seed Texas in the quarterfinals.
“For 22 consecutive years, there’s been a preseason top 10 team from the AP poll to finish the year unranked. There’s a few pointing to the Hurricanes as that squad this fall, but not here,” Crawford writes. “As our projected ACC runner-up to Clemson, Mario Cristobal will push this team into the playoff for the first time.”
Sports Illustrated
SI’s Bryan Fischer and Pat Forde on Wednesday broke down eight different playoff scenario, some legitimate and some more for fun, with Miami included in three of those brackets.
However, UM wasn’t part of the duo’s primary “Perfect Bracket,” which they called their “best prediction at how the 2025 season will play out.”
The brackets Miami did make: The Underdog Bracket as the No. 1 seed (and then losing in the quarterfinals to No. 9 seed Illinois), the Six Degrees of Nick Saban Bracket as the No. 5 seed (beating No. 12 seed Southern Miss and then losing to No. 4 seed and eventual champion Alabama), the Desperate Fan Base Bracket as the No. 7 seed (beating No. 10 Arkansas in the first round and then losing to No. 2 seed Nebraska in the quarterfinals).
On3
On3’s Josh Pate’s projected field has Miami missing the 12-team field completely, with him predicting Alabama to beat Oregon in the title game.
USA Today
In USA Today’s prediction article published Friday, just two of their six writers have Miami in the field. Bryan Kalbrosky has the Hurricanes winning the ACC — “I’m picking Carson Beck and Mario Cristobal, who have varying degrees of national championship experience, to win this conference,” Kalbrosky wrote — while Prince J. Grimes has UM making it as an at-large.
This story was originally published August 23, 2025 at 10:43 AM.
.JPG)