Miami Hurricanes move up in ESPN Power rankings, FPI
The Miami Hurricanes 47-10 victory over North Carolina on Thursday night might have dropped them in the polls, but they moved up in ESPN’s College Football Power Rankings and Football Power Index.
The Power Rankings ESPN posted only rank the top 25 nationally. They have yet to come out with their conference specific ones this week for the Power Five teams. The Miami Hurricanes are 15th in ESPN’s Power Rankings and 10th in their FPI.
The FPI is complex. Somehow LSU is one spot behind the Hurricanes despite defeating them 33-17, having a better record at 5-0 to Miami’s 4-1 and defeating Auburn who is 12th in the FPI. Miami’s best win in the FPI is against Toledo who is 77th. The FPI does take into account what the future holds for each team.
The Miami Hurricanes spot as the 15th team nationally in ESPN’s College Football Power Rankings is two places higher than they are in the national polls. Miami inexplicably moved down one spot in the media and coaches poll this week after their dominant win over North Carolina.
Miami is one of three ACC teams in ESPN’s Power Rankings. Clemson fell to fifth after they almost lost at home to Syracuse. That would have been the Tigers second loss in a row to the Orange. They lost to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome last season. Virginia Tech is the only other ACC team in the rankings at 23rd.
The Hurricanes are also the highest ranked Florida team in the ESPN rankings. UCF is 15th and Florida 24th. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach wrote up the rankings and the summaries. He is impressed by the play of the Miami defense.
"“Miami’s defense continued its torrid play under coordinator Manny Diaz, tying a school record with three defensive touchdowns in a 37-point rout of the reeling Tar Heels on Thursday night.Romeo Finley and Joe Jackson returned interceptions for scores, and Jonathan Garvin scored on a fumble return. The Hurricanes forced six turnovers and held UNC to 114 passing yards. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Miami defense stopped the Tar Heels for zero or negative yards on 32 of 75 plays (43.6 percent).”"
The Miami defense gets a chance to keep it rolling this weekend against a Florida State offense that has been inconsistent at best and anemic at worst this season. The Seminoles are 97th nationally in total offense averaging 372.8 yards per game.
Miami is second nationally in total defense allowing 244.8 yards per game. The Hurricanes pass defense has been especially dominant giving up just 138.8 yards per game. Miami is 23rd against the run yielding 106 yards per game.
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If the Miami defense can continue to play how they have been in the last four and a half games they should be able to dominate Florida State. The Seminoles had to rally with two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to pull out a victory over Louisville who fell to 2-3 with the loss.