CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Miami coach Mario Cristobal stated his College Football Playoff case Tuesday morning, imploring the selection committee to “go to the facts” when deciding if the Hurricanes deserve an at-large berth into the 12-team field.
The committee saw things differently — and it looks like Miami isn't going to the playoff.
The Hurricanes (No. 14 AP, 10-2, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) were 12th in the latest CFP rankings on Tuesday night, jumped by a three-loss Alabama team — which, for now, would get the final at-large spot in the 12-team field.
“Any team that is not playing right now, we don't have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked,” CFP selection committee chairman Warde Manuel, the athletic director at Michigan, said on ESPN. “And so, that is set in terms of how we see them. ... There's nothing that's going to change.”
That would mean Miami, Mississippi and South Carolina — the No. 12, No. 13 and No. 14 teams in Tuesday night's rankings — have no chance of being on the bracket when the 12-team field is finalized Sunday, since none of those teams have a game left to change any minds.
Among Miami's sales pitch was that its two losses were by a combined nine points; 28-23 to a Georgia Tech team that finished 7-5, and 42-38 to a Syracuse team that finished 9-3. Alabama lost 24-3 two weeks ago to an Oklahoma team that finished the regular season 6-6.
“We won 10 games this year and not many teams have,” Cristobal said in his weekly appearance 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.”
This weekend's conference championship games — Clemson vs. SMU in the ACC, UNLV vs. Boise State in the Mountain West, Iowa State vs. Arizona State in the Big 12, Georgia vs. Texas in the SEC and Penn State vs. Oregon in the Big Ten — will decide much of who goes where, but Manuel said those not playing won't see their current spot improve.
Clemson is No. 17 in the CFP rankings, so if it beats SMU it would take the ACC's guaranteed spot in the bracket — but that wouldn't help Miami or anyone else currently on the outside looking in.
“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.
Part of Miami's argument for a CFP berth was 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 at Syracuse — were by a combined nine points.
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, hours before the Tuesday night rankings came out. “Award football teams for winning football games.”
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