Cote: Hurricanes rout Pitt, prove they belong in CFP over Notre Dame | Opinion
The Miami Hurricanes did all they could on Saturday, stated their case with clarity, and forcefully declared they deserved to be in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
They should make it. They have earned it. But now it will take a late and unlikely epiphany of logical fairness from the CFP voters.
No. 12-ranked Miami played on the road at No. 22 Pitt and clobbered the Panthers, 38-7, Saturday to finish the regular season 10-2. UM won its last four straight games by a combined score of 151-41. The Canes won head-to-head vs. Notre Dame in the season opener -- yet the Fighting Irish with the same record illogically still ranked ahead of them at No. 9.
“This is a college football playoff team,” Canes coach Mario Cristobal put it bluntly afterward. “We all know it. We‘ve seen it. We had complete domination. We’re playing great football in all three phases. And head-to-head is the No. 1 criteria. Not only did we pass the eye test, we passed the field test. Playing this brand of football down the stretch, and head to head. Our defensive and offensive lines have been absolutely dominant. We’re getting healthier. All that stuff speaks loudly.”
Quarterback Carson Beck threw three scoring passes and said afterward, “I believe we can compete with anybody. We’ve shown that. This team is only getting better. We responded to the adversity. We have a really, really talented team. But [making the playoffs is] not in our hands at this moment.”
Miami was 4-0 vs. ranked teams (including Notre Dame) this season. The Irish were 2-2. And, by the way, the Hurricanes’ two losses, to Louisville and at SMU, were vs. two bowl-bound, winning teams that both also were ranked at one point this season.
The CFP rankings that had Miami 12th say UM logically should be in a 12-team playoff, but the machinations of automatic-bids means the Canes must be top-10 for an at-large invitation. That’s why, even with Saturday’s win, computer analytics put Miami’s CFP likelihood at 25 percent, relying on a small parade of miracle results all falling right later in the day and night.
No. 16 Texas upsetting No. 3 Texas A&M Friday only hurt Miami’s chances.
Virginia comfortably beating Virginia Tech Saturday night eliminated Miami from its scant chance to still reach the ACC Championship Game.
And then Notre Dame routing Stanford 49-20 late Saturday erased UM’s easiest path to the CFP -- though the Irish only making seem more impressive Miami beating them in the opener.
Now it will all come down to the playoff committee’s infatuation with the lore and mystique of Notre Dame and whether it dares to rank Miami higher as it should.
The committee maybe should pay attention to the following as well, since more than on-field results apparently matter so much:
Miami is a five-time national champion.
With a star quarterback in Beck completing over 70 percent of his passes.
With the national freshman of the year in Malachi Toney, maybe the most exciting player in college football who Saturday caught one touchdown pass and threw for another.
With a Brobdingnagian offensive line.
With the best defensive player in the country in Reuben Bain and a national top-10 run defense.
With two likely top-10 picks in the NFL Draft.
And, just for fun, with America’s most animated human mascot in sideline maniac Michael Irvin.
Oh, yeah. And Miami beat Notre Dame, 27-24. Remember? If you’ve forgotten that, CFP voters, you can watch it again. It’s on film. There’s proof it actually happened! I was there. I’d testify.
That should count, underlined and italicized in bold. That should be the king of tiebreakers when the overall records are the same.
As UM coach Mario Cristobal had also said prior, screaming to the deaf: “People throw around the term ‘eye test.’ Well how about the field test, where head-to-to-head matters.”
Or should, at least.
Hunter Yurachek, chair of the CFP selection committee, admitted, “Miami is a team that it really appears is starting to look like the Miami team that started 5-0.”
Also, I might add ... the team that beat Notre Dame.
Miami’s last four games all were tantamount to playoffs for The U as it climbed its mountain, and the Canes found a way to dominate.
“We did what we had to do,” said Cristobal. “Flat out did it.”
Saturday Toney, who just turned 18 in September, had a one-handed catch to set up his scoring throw to Elija Lofton for a 10-7 lead. He scored on a 22-yard pass from Beck for 17-7 at the half, and set a UM freshman season record for receiving yards. Mark Fletcher’s short run made it 24-7, Beck’s 9-yard pass to CharMar Brown made it 31-7, and Beck’s 25th TD pass of the season, 33-yards to C.J. Daniels, made the final score.
Miami did its job. Emphatically.
Now it’s up the CFP voters to do theirs.
This story was originally published November 29, 2025 at 3:43 PM.
