Where are Miami Hurricanes in Week 4 ACC Power Rankings?

The Miami Hurricanes offense looked at its best since their two-game demolition of Virginia Tech and Notre Dame last season. That puts UM in the top quarter of ACC teams through four weeks of the 2018 season.

After a disappointing season-opening 33-17 loss against LSU the Miami Hurricanes offense has exploded the last two weeks with 126 points combined. They defeated FCS (and dropping to Division II for 2019) Savannah State 77-0 last week and followed that up with a 49-24 victory over Toledo this weekend.

At 2-1 the Hurricanes are still near the top of the conference in the power rankings. The only thing keeping Miami from being second behind Clemson is 3-0 Boston College. The Eagles three wins are over UMass, Holy Cross and Wake Forest.

If the Hurricanes had their usual start to the season instead of playing LSU in the season opener they likely would be ahead of BC. The Hurricanes play at Boston College on Friday, October 26 on ESPN.

Three of the sites we used have actual rankings and summaries for the ACC. Two of the bigger brand name sites we used rank the teams on a national basis. We extracted the rankings from that.

Miami is the fourth-ranked team in the ACC Power Rankings when you average out the three sites that issued ACC specific rankings. ESPN has the Hurricanes fifth, the Charlotte News Observer fourth and Syracuse.Com third. All three have summaries of the rankings. ESPN only mentions Malik Rosier’s five touchdown day.

The News Observer’s analysis reiterated what anyone that follows the Miami Hurricanes have known since last year, that the U’s success often depends on the play of Rosier.

"“When quarterback Malik Rosier (five total touchdowns) is good, Miami is good. It’s not that complicated.”"

Syracuse.Com writer Chris Carlson is a bit higher on Miami. He states that the Hurricanes victory over Toledo and that the loss to LSU doesn’t look so bad after the Tigers won at Auburn on Saturday.

"“Miami went on the road and put a hurting on defending Mid-American Conference champion Toledo, mauling the Rockets up front and finishing with 13 tackles for loss. Defensive lineman Gerald Willis III finished with a team-high three.Quarterback Malik Rosier threw for two touchdowns and rushed for three more. The one negative on Miami’s resume doesn’t look quite as bad either…The Hurricanes lost their opener on a neutral field to LSU, but the Tigers improved to 3-0 with a road win over Auburn.”"

CBS Sports and the Sporting News did not do conference specific power rankings. Both publish their own top 25. In line with the USA Today Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25, Miami is third in the rankings among ACC teams.

The Sporting News has Clemson second, Virginia Tech 16th and Miami 18th. They did not provide any analysis on their rankings. CBSSports.Com has the Tigers third, Hokies 12th and Hurricanes 18th. Both sites moved Miami up four spots from last week.

CBS gave a quick analysis of the win over Toledo and that the loss to LSU doesn’t look as bad as it did initially.

"“The nation’s No. 4 defense allowed the Canes to pull away from Toledo in the second half. If Miami keeps winning that LSU loss looks better and better.”"

The rankings have no bearing on the ACC Standings or the College Football Playoff. What they do they tell us is what the national perception of the Miami Hurricanes is. The loss to LSU in front of a national television audience with no other game that day was a bad look. Miami has rebounded nicely the last two weeks.

The Hurricanes will play on ESPN for at least the second of three consecutive weekends this Saturday against FIU. That follows with the ACC opener a week from Thursday.

With potential national television audiences and namely reporters and the College Football Playoff committee members watching, Miami needs to continue to put up impressive performances.