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Miami Hurricanes Poised to Join College Football Elite

By Lance Roffers

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - NOVEMBER 05: Head coach Mark Richt of the Miami Hurricanes looks on during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium on November 5, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - NOVEMBER 05: Head coach Mark Richt of the Miami Hurricanes looks on during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium on November 5, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) /
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This ranked 12th out of 128 FBS programs. In 2015, Miami scored 361 points and allowed 366. Their Simple Rating Score left them being 5.69 points better than an average team. This number ranked 49th out of 128 FBS programs.

Diving deeper, you see that in 2016 Miami scored 280 points against P5 programs and allowed 228. In 2015, they scored 251 points against P5 opponents and allowed 312. This was a turnaround of 113 points and falls in line with the drastic improvement the team showed over the course of the two seasons.

In summation, you see that Miami was far more competitive in 2016 than they were in 2015. Miami won all nine games in 2016 by double digits. In 2015 only four of their victories came by double digits.

Three of Miami’s four losses in 2016 were by single digits, while the 2015 squad saw three of their defeats come by double digits, including the infamous 58-0 shellacking at the hands of Clemson and a 59-21 beat down from North Carolina.

Bottom Line 

Every advanced metric you can point to shows that Miami was on the cusp of being a top-10 team in 2016. Miami is coming off of their first bowl win since 2006.

Next: Five Miami Hurricanes Alums that are Pro Football Hall of Fame Locks

Heading into the second season under Mark Richt and staff, there is no doubt Miami is poised to return to the ranks of the elite programs in college football. They could potentially give the ACC a third team capable of winning a national title.

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