Brad Crawford of CBS Sports projected "College football best- and worst-case scenarios for every team in the top 25 ahead of 2026" posted on Tuesday. Crawford states the best-case scenario is for Miami to finish 12-0 during the 2026 regular season and its worst-case scenario at 10-2.
Miami has finished 10-2 in each of the last two regular seasons. Crawford noted that not only did Miami retain wide receiver Malachi Toney, but that the Hurricanes fixed defensive holes and added quarterback Darian Mensah and WR Cooper Barkate from 2025 ACC Champion Duke.
Under his worst-case scenario for Miami, Crawford stated that the Hurricanes' game at Notre Dame in November will likely determine a top-four seeding on the eventual College Football Playoff bracket. The worst-case scenario comes in if Miami has another loss on its schedule, per Crawford.
Crawford pointed out that Miami has two Friday night games that have proven tricky for ACC favorites in recent years. Miami lost 24-21 at home to Louisville on Friday night in October during the 2025 season. That loss and/or at SMU kept Miami out of the ACC Championship game.
Odds to make the College Football Playoff per FanDuel:
— Biased Notre Dame Fan (@CFBGuy999) April 12, 2026
Notre Dame -700
Texas Tech -370
Indiana -330
Miami -280
Oregon -270
Ohio State -240
Georgia -220
Texas -180
LSU +115
Texas A&M +130
Alabama +160
Ole Miss +175
Oklahoma +260
Michigan +270
USC +290
Penn State +310
Tennessee…
Miami 2026 season opener
Miami begins the season on Friday night, September 4, at Stanford. This is the second consecutive season Miami is opening the season on a day other than Saturday. Miami beat Notre Dame 27-24 in the 2025 opener on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend.
The win over Notre Dame in the 2025 season opener was the difference between Miami making the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame being left out. The other 2025 game for Miami on Friday is at Wake Forest on September 18. At the least Miami needs to split the games at Stanford and Wake Forest.
Even more Miami Hurricanes 2026 schedule notes...
— Canes Research (@CanesResearch) January 27, 2026
This will only be the Canes 2nd season opening road game since 2014. They opened at Florida in 2024, and before that did not have a true road opener since 2014 at Louisville.
There were 3 neutral site games between 2014 and…
Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, Pittsburgh and SMU all finished in a tie for second in the ACC during the regular season with six wins and two losses. Virginia had seven wins and one loss to earn the ACC Championship Game berth. Duke earned the ACC Championship Game berth due to a complicated tiebreaker.
The best-case scenario and clearest path for Miami to return to the CFP is to win the ACC. Miami does not want to put itself in position to rely on a complicated tiebreaker again to make the CFP. Winning the ACC will likely avoid that. Miami should be in the top 10 in the 2026 preseason rankings.
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