Could future Miami football schedule hinder Playoff hopes?

If not for Hurricane Irma last year Miami would be well above the average number with six non-conference road games from 2014-17. According to Fornelli’s research, that’s not the formula to use to try to earn a College Football Playoff berth.

The ACC has been far more aggressive in scheduling non-conference away games than other conferences. Some of that could be attributable to rivalry games every other year. The majority of those rivalry games are against the SEC.

Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State and Louisville-Kentucky are all played every season. Those seem to account for the majority of the SEC true non-conference road games. The SEC averaged 2.43 non-conference road games per team in the four years of the College Football Playoff.

The ACC’s total of 65 true non-conference road games between 2014-17 has been by far the most of the Power Five Conferences. The Big Ten and Pac 12 were next with 41. The Pac 12 has averaged 3.42 true NC road games per program and the Big Ten 2.93 over the last four seasons.

The average for all of the Power Five Schools true non-conference road games between 2014-17 was 3.34 per program. The nine schools that have earned berths in the playoffs have averaged only 2.67 true non-conference road games.

Clemson leads the way among those schools with four. Alabama has not played a true non-conference road game since 2011. The Crimson Tide are the only Power Five school to have not played a true non-conference road game since the playoff was formed for the 2014 season.