Miami Hurricanes fans still hoping for a miracle have plenty of teams to root for during championship weekend
For the Canes fans looking for direction on cheering interests this weekend, there are a number of games that can help Miami.
The Miami Hurricanes are in a bad spot heading into conference championship weekend before the final College Football Playoff rankings are released on Sunday.
The Canes remained at 12 in the rankings despite walloping the Pitt Panthers 38-7 last Saturday. Behind BYU and Notre Dame for the final spot, the Hurricanes need a lot of things to break their way to maximize the pressure on the selection committee to force them to ignore a direct head-to-head between two teams next to each other.
For those cockeyed optimists who continue to hope, here’s what you should be rooting for this weekend.
Miami needs a number of games to go their way to strengthen the argument to flip places with Notre Dame
Texas Tech over BYU (and potentially in convincing fashion). The Red Raiders have already done this once, throttling the Cougars 29-7 back in early November. Tech has been bombing teams lately, and if that continues on Saturday, then it’s at least a possibility the Cougars could drop below Miami and finally put Canes and Irish next to each other. BYU isn’t in the field right now, so dropping them for losing wouldn’t be a real punishment.
Alabama over Georgia. Yes, I said Alabama over Georgia and not the other way around. If Miami gets in, it will be over Notre Dame and not Alabama. The committee is not going to punish Bama, of all people, for losing their own conference championship game. No way, no how. They made that clear on Tuesday by giving them a buffer and jumping them over Notre Dame. Conversely, a Bama loss could give the committee grounds to jump Notre Dame back over Bama for the 9 spot and put the Tide as the last team in at No. 10. Whereas Bama over Georgia would almost certainly mean both teams are ahead of ND and Miami.
Duke over Virginia. The ACC-has-to-have-a-team-in factor. If Virginia wins, the ACC is covered, and there won’t be any added pressure to put Miami in to satisfy the powers-that-be of a Power Four conference. But if Duke pulls off the small upset, then they will almost certainly not be in the field because Tulane, North Texas, and James Madison are already ranked. The Tulane/North Texas winner will get an auto bid, and so will James Madison if they win (and they’re favored heavily over Troy). That makes five ranked conference champions and would mean that Duke and the ACC would be shut out – unless the committee moves Miami in. So, you see where I’m going with this.
James Madison over Troy. But that depends on JMU doing their part. Even though you never know in this wacky sport, they’re roughly 23.5-point favorites over Troy, so they should win. In any event, Miami fans should hope they do.
UNLV over Boise State. This is a sneaky game that’s not getting much attention, but Notre Dame defeated Boise State this season. So, if the Broncos win, the Irish will have a resume win over a conference champion. If they lose, their strength of schedule and metrics will get dinged a tad. At this point, everything small can help, so Cane fans should be pulling for the Rebels on Friday night.
College Football
‘Let’s just put the Chiefs into the playoffs because we think they’re good’ — ESPN’s Mike Greenberg destroys silly narrative around Miami vs. Notre Dame
The ESPN personality wasn’t having it when hypotheticals came up between the Irish and Hurricanes.
