After a volatile weekend of College Football, the Miami Hurricanes moved up two spots in the Coaches Poll and dropped one in the AP Poll after another close victory on Saturday.
For the fourth straight week, the Miami Hurricanes had to pull out a late victory. The Hurricanes have now won their last four games by a total of 18 points. The win coupled with losses by TCU and Penn State helped Miami rise to sixth from eighth in the Coaches Poll. The media docked the Hurricanes and they fell to tenth.
Miami’s win improved them to 7-0 this season. It was the Hurricanes 12 straight victory overall dating to the final five games of the 2016 season. The polls will take on added significance the next two weeks. Miami hosts number 13 Virginia Tech this upcoming Saturday and will host number five/eight Notre Dame a week later.
This week’s polls have a lot of variances. Some of the Miami Hurricanes fan base will claim that the media doesn’t respect the Hurricanes but the Coaches do. The Notre Dame fan base will claim the opposite with Notre Dame three spots higher in the media poll.
The Hurricanes close victories and the weakness of their schedule hurt them compared to the other undefeated and one loss teams. Miami has not played a team in the top 25 this year. That is both when the Canes played them and the current rankings.
The majority of the teams ranked in the top ten lost to other ranked teams. Penn State lost to Ohio State who lost to Oklahoma and so on.
Clemson is ahead of Miami in both polls despite their loss coming to Syracuse. The Hurricanes defeated the Orange at home, Clemson lost to Syracuse on the road. The Tigers were missing quarterback Kelly Bryant for a majority of the loss.
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The Hurricanes season is now in front of them. Win the next two games and they will certainly rise in the polls. A respectable split should keep them in the top ten. The first College Football rankings come out Tuesday night. The Hurricanes will likely be somewhere between six and nine.
Five one-loss teams are ahead of Miami in the AP Media poll and two in the USA Today Coaches poll. Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Oklahoma and Clemson are the one-loss teams ahead of the Hurricanes in the Media Poll. Only Ohio State and Clemson are ahead of Miami in the USA Today poll.
Like Penn State and Ohio State, Notre Dame’s one loss was to another top ten team. The Fighting Irish lost 20-19 to Georgia earlier this season. The Sooners only loss was to Iowa State. The Cyclones are having one of their best seasons in school history. They are ranked 14/16 this week and just knocked TCU from the unbeaten.
If Miami is going to make a statement and earn respect, the next two games could decide how big their fate is this season. The country will be watching Miami’s games against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame to see if the Hurricanes are for real and if the U is back.
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Miami and Virginia Tech will kickoff on Saturday on ABC at 8:00 ET. Win that game and it would be hard to imagine that the Hurricanes wouldn’t be the national prime time game of the week for a second consecutive week.