Miami Hurricanes Receive First Places Votes In CFB Poll
The Miami Hurricanes remained second in the AP Media Poll and the USA Today Coaches poll for week 13. The Hurricanes received first-place votes in the AP Poll for the just the second time this season.
The Miami Hurricanes were able to keep their place as the second-ranked team in the nation after they had to twice come back from 14 point deficits to defeat Virginia 44-28. Miami ended the game by scoring the last 30 points.
Miami received three first-place votes to Alabama’s 58. The Hurricanes finished 89 points behind the Crimson Tide in the AP Poll. Miami was 108 points behind Alabama in the Coaches’ poll.
The College Football Playoff Poll comes out on Tuesday night. Miami was third in the CFP poll last week behind Alabama and Clemson. Oklahoma was in the coveted final spot at number four.
The Miami Hurricanes will finish its regular season on Friday afternoon against Pittsburgh. The Panthers are 4-7. Their final game before Bowl Season will be against Clemson the following week in the ACC Championship game. That game is being called a de-facto College Football Playoff quarterfinal game.
Miami and Clemson were two of the three ACC teams in the rankings. Virginia Tech is 24th in the Media poll and 25th in the coaches poll.
Clemson was ahead of Miami on the strength of its wins and the fact that starting quarterback Kelly Bryant was out for most for most of the second half in their loss to Syracuse.
That’s inequitable for Miami. The Hurricanes lost starting running back Mark Walton after the win over Florida State last month. Wide receiver Ahmmon Richards has struggled with injuries all season.
It will be interesting to see if Miami pulling away late after being in a battle for most of the game will be enough to hold on to third in the rankings. Oklahoma blitzed Kansas 41-3 in Lawrence. Will that be enough to overtake Miami? How much do the Hurricanes have to do to be ranked ahead of Clemson?
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The committee has indicated they place more emphasis on quality wins then poor losses. The Tigers loss to 4-7 Syracuse is bad no matter how it’s analyzed. Their win over number six Auburn goes a long way. Miami fans should be pulling for Alabama to win convincingly in Saturday’s Iron Bowl.
Oklahoma might have more quality wins this season than anyone. The Sooners won at number eight Ohio State in September and have added wins against number ten TCU and at number 18 Oklahoma State. Their lone loss was at unranked Iowa State.
Miami’s two biggest wins were at home. The lack of a big road win is more related to their schedule than how they played. Florida’s State poor season has hurt Miami. The wins over Virginia Tech and number nine Notre Dame will help, but they were at home.
For now, this is all guesswork. Things will play out over the next two weeks. Each of the contenders has at least one more tough game remaining.
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The winner of the Alabama-Auburn game then has to play Georgia in the SEC Championship December 2. Oklahoma plays West Virginia this weekend and then has a likely rematch with TCU in the Big XII title game.