Following its win over Virginia Tech and losses to other teams ahead of them, the Miami Hurricanes moved up to seventh in the latest College Football Playoff (CFP) Rankings.
The win over the Virginia Tech was the marquee win that the Miami Hurricanes needed. They have a chance to add to that resume by hosting Notre Dame this weekend. A win over the Fighting Irish will likely move Miami to no worse than fifth in next week rankings.
The Fighting Irish’s trip to Hard Rock Stadium is one of three games on Saturday between teams ranked in the top ten in the CFP Playoff Rankings. Number one Georgia plays at number ten Auburn and number five Oklahoma hosts number six TCU.
The loser of the TCU-Oklahoma game is likely eliminated from the Playoff. A Miami win over Notre Dame also likely eliminates the Fighting Irish.
If Miami loses they will still be in the hunt but would need a win over Clemson in the ACC Title game to re-boost their chances. A win over Notre Dame will still give Miami some wiggle room to lose in the ACC Championship game.
Miami was able to make its move up the rankings because of the upsets in the Big Ten and getting their own big win over previously ranked number 13 Virginia Tech. Ohio State and Penn State who were ranked ahead of Miami lost. The Hurricanes jumped a third Big Ten team, undefeated Wisconsin.
Miami Head Coach spoke with the ESPN panel after the rankings were released. He was interviewed by ESPN’s Rece Davis.
Inside the Loud House
On Winning the Close Games Repeatedly
"“When you win the close games you have a chance to be a champion”. This year winning the close games. Had we won the close games last season we would have been one-loss team”"
On How Well the Team Has Played
"“Know we’ve got to be more consistent…seems like for whatever reason we haven’t put it all together”"
Richt knew that their win against Virginia Tech was huge in changing the national perception of his team. Before the win over Virginia Tech, this past weekend, skeptics pointed to Miami’s four consecutive close game and the fact that Miami had not beaten a top ten team.
Richt spoke about what made the difference in the victory over the Hokies.
"“(The) fans helped, (and the) humidity helped”"
A lot of the Miami Hurricanes fans base seems to think that ESPN, the College Football committee and potentially the entire media and maybe congress is against them. Richt was asked how he felt about being ranked seventh in the CFP Poll.
"“If we win we’ll move up. We have 4 more games…we hope….if we win we’ll be fine”"
Richt closed with how his team is handling their success this season.
"We’re not afraid to embrace the fact we are having success. We’ve been fighting to get in a positiion to play in a game we will play in this Saturday. Takes a lot of effort a lot of wins to get to this moment”"
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Miami will definitely either move up or down after the game against Notre Dame on Saturday. The fact that the two teams directly in front of them are playing as well means that Miami would likely move up to five if everyone else wins out.