Miami football 16th in coaches poll inline with consensus rankings

The Miami football team is ranked 16th in the USA Today Coaches Poll released on Tuesday. The ranking is in line with the consensus rankings of national media sites where Miami is 17th. Consensus rankings were published by 247 Sports from their own poll and  CBS Sports, ESPN’s FPI, Sporting News and College Football News.

Those rankings were released in April and might vary slightly. Miami ranked 16th will be about where they should be when the media poll is released and other major websites like those mentioned will have the Hurricanes when their final preseason rankings are released. Miami is third among ACC teams.

Clemson is second with 1508 points and amazingly no first-place votes. North Carolina is ninth with 999 points. The Hurricanes are not scheduled to play Clemson this season. Miami is at North Carolina on October 16. The Hurricanes open this season against near-unanimous number one Alabama on September 4.

Miami received 573 points in the poll. The Hurricanes were two points ahead of number 17 Indiana. No other ACC teams are in the Top 25. The highest-ranked ACC team behind Miami is number 35 North Carolina State. Pittsburgh and Boston College are tied for 44th, Florida State is 56th.

Appalachian State who Miami hosts in its home opener on September 11 is tied for 48th with Southern Methodist and West Virginia. Miami has a very advantageous schedule this season with only Alabama and North Carolina ranked in the preseason Top 25. North Carolina State is an underrated team.

Appalachian State will also be a challenge. Miami hosts Michigan State on September 18. Florida State and Pittsburgh are the only other teams on the Miami schedule who received votes. The schedule is very advantageous for the Hurricanes to have a nine or 10 win season. The game at UNC should decide the ACC Coastal.

Miami returns 19 starters. The Hurricanes began training camp on Friday. The return of quarterback D’Eriq King prompted several other Miami football players to return for a super senior season of their fifth year in college and beyond. King is entering his second season with the Hurricanes and sixth in college.

Miami head coach Manny Diaz and former Hurricanes head coach Butch Davis who is now at FIU are among the coaches voting. Dino Babers of Syracuse, Geoff Collins of Georgia Tech, Dave Doeren of N.C. State and Pat Narduzzi of Pittsburgh are other ACC coaches who voted. Nick Saban and Michigan State’s Mel Tucker voted too.