Miami AD: ‘The Canes have the look of a College Football Playoff team’
Mario Cristobal has made his case about why his Miami Hurricanes should be in the 12-team College Football Playoff. So have Hurricanes players. And so have some prominent voices in the college football world such as Nick Saban.
Now, following Miami’s 38-7 road win against a ranked Pittsburgh team to end the regular season at 10-2 (6-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play), Dan Radakovich is adding his voice to the masses.
“The offense has been clicking on all cylinders and the defense has been at its ferocious best,” the Hurricanes’ athletic director on Monday wrote in an open letter on UM athletics. “In short, if you’re in the eye test business the Canes have the look of a College Football Playoff team.”
The Hurricanes, who finished the season on a four-game win streak and oustcored opponents 151-41 in that span, were 12th in the most recent rankings. The committee’s second-to last rankings will be unveiled at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the final ranking that determines the playoff field coming out Sunday following conference championships. The five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams make the playoff field.
Radakovich served on the CFP selection committee from 2014 to 2017 while at Clemson and said he knows “firsthand what a difficult job it is.”
“You spend weeks ranking teams, discussing strengths and weaknesses, parsing through data points,” Radakovich said, “and — most importantly – watching games.”
That, importantly, includes a 27-24 win against Notre Dame on Aug. 31 to begin the season. Notre Dame is one of the teams Miami is competing with to get into the field as an at-large bid.
Both teams have two losses. Their resumes are practically equal.
The one difference: Miami has a head-to-head win against Notre Dame.
“Moments like that are what makes college football such a compelling sport,” Radakovich said. “Let’s ensure those moments matter.”
Beyond that head-to-head win, Radakovich pointed to several metrics in which the Hurricanes are favored over several of the teams with whom they are directly competing with, namely No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 Alabama, No. 11 BYU and No. 13 Utah.
Among them...
▪ Miami is sixth in the latest Sagarin rankings, which is ahead of seven SEC teams with either one or two losses in Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Texas and Oklahoma. Miami has five wins against teams in Sagarin’s Top 40.
▪ Miami ranks seventh in ESPN’s FPI’s rankings, which is ahead of one-loss Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and BYU. UM also boasts five wins against FPI Top 40 teams. Only Oklahoma and Alabama have more, although Radakovich pointed out that Alabama lost 31-17 to a five-win Florida State team that Miami beat.
▪ Miami is ninth in the latest SP+ rankings, ahead of two-loss Utah, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Oklahoma (and BYU).
“The numbers heavily lean towards the University of Miami, and we’re going to keep presenting the information that is truthful,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said Monday on his weekly appearance on WQAM’s The Joe Rose Show. “These aren’t narratives. These aren’t creating bulls--- scenarios. This is legitimately presenting all the reasons why. No matter who’s playing well right now, Miami is playing better than everybody.”
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