After losing two out of their last three ACC conference games, the Miami Hurricanes fell to No. 12 in the latest CFP Rankings—a position that has them on the outside looking in at the first 12-team College Football Playoff.
Said losses over the last three weeks—a 28–23 defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech and a 42–38 barnburner of a loss to the Syracuse Orange—were part of the reason why Miami (10-2) was ranked behind the Alabama Crimson Tide (9–3).
"Both have had some losses that weren't what they wanted out of those games," Warde Manuel, chair of the College Football Playoff Committee, said on Tuesday. "But in those last three games, Miami has lost twice. For us, in evaluating their body of work, we felt that Alabama got the edge over Miami."
Miami's athletic director Dan Radakovich wasn't pleased with that explanation, and proceeded to sound off on social media.
"Really ??" the AD posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday night. "... What put [Alabama] over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and [Georgia Tech] team that just took [Georgia] to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by [Oklahoma], and beat FCS Mercer)."
Really ?? ….what put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and GT team that just took UGA to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by OU, and beat FCS Mercer)
— Dan Radakovich (@DanRadakovich) December 4, 2024
Neither Alabama nor Miami qualified to play in their conference championship games this coming weekend. Given that—according to Manuel—the Crimson Tide will remain ranked ahead of the Hurricanes when the final bracket is released.
"Those who are not playing, we will not adjust those teams because they won't have another data point," the CFP chair explained. "...That is set in terms of how we see them going into the final week of championship week. There's nothing that's going to change for us to evaluate them any differently than we have now."
The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff will be officially unveiled Sunday at 12 p.m. ET.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Miami AD Sounds Off on CFP's Reasoning for Ranking Alabama Over Hurricanes.
