Tuesday’s release of the College Football Playoff Rankings, the last installment leading up to the finale Sunday, was not favorable to the Miami Hurricanes. And their conference took issue with it.
Indeed, Alabama snuck into the coveted No. 11 spot, as announced on ESPN’s rankings release show, while Miami fell to No. 12. That means, barring an upset in Saturday’s ACC championship game between Clemson and SMU, Alabama might be headed back to the CFP for the ninth time in the past 11 seasons — despite losing three times under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer — while the Hurricanes get left out of the first 12-team tournament.
In a statement, released after the show concluded, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said the league was “incredibly shocked and disappointed” that Miami fell six spots to No. 12 and added coach Mario Cristobal’s team “absolutely deserves better from the committee.”
“As we look ahead to the final rankings,” he added, “we hope the committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field.”
Miami suffered its second defeat of the season Saturday, losing 42-38 at Syracuse. It was its second loss in three games, which all came in conference play. The less-than-stellar finish meant Miami failed to qualify for the ACC title game, which makes matters more difficult for a team that opened 9-0.
Cristobal spoke on a South Florida radio station earlier Tuesday, long before the rankings were released. He, at the time, implored the selection committee to “go to the facts” when deciding whether the Hurricanes (10-2, 6-2 ACC).
“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.'”
Part of Miami’s argument for a CFP berth is that the Hurricanes won easily at Florida to open the season, that they lead the nation in yards and points per game, that Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback Cam Ward led the nation with 36 touchdown passes, that they went unbeaten at home and their two losses — at Georgia Tech and to the Orange — were by a combined nine points.
“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.
The arguments against Miami include that the Hurricanes didn’t face any teams that were ranked in that particular week and that the defense allowed at least 31 points five times in the final eight games.
Yet even with the defensive struggles, the Hurricanes still finished the regular season as one of seven teams nationally ranked in the top 25 in both yards per game and yards allowed per game, along with Indiana, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas.
“Go to the facts,” Cristobal said. “Award football teams for winning football games.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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