CFP Selection Committee chair Warde Manuel explains Miami 4th over BYU 9th

College Football Playoff selection committee chair Warde Manuel praised Miami's offensive prowess and wins versus Louisville, Florida, and California on Tuesday night during the reveal of the first 2024 rankings on ESPN. Manuel discussed why Miami is ranked significantly higher than fellow unbeaten BYU.

Miami is fourth and BYU ninth in the initial 2024 College Football Playoff Rankings. The rankings just indicate who the committee thinks are the top 25 teams nationally. BYU and Miami will be seeded higher than their CFP rankings if they win their conference championships.

The top four conference champions will receive the top four seeds in the CFP. The initial CFP rankings have Oregon as the highest-ranked Big 10 team, Georgia top in the SEC, Miami first in the ACC and BYU leading the Big XII. Those four teams would currently receive byes in the CFP.

The week 11 Associated Press Top 25 and US LBM Coaches Polls rank Miami fourth and BYU ninth, matching their CFP Rankings. Miami is ninth and BYU 28th in the ESPN Football Power Index. The Miami wins at Louisville, California and Florida should be impressive to the CFP committee.

"When we looked at how Miami has played particularly their offensive prowess, they were impressive in their win against Louisville, and they really had a dominating show at the beginning of the year against Florida, came back against Cal in a very late-night contest for Miami."

- CFP Committee chair Warde Manuel

Miami is first nationally averaging 47.4 points per game and 556.9 yards per game. The Hurricanes are third in the ESPN FPI strength of record, 46th in strength of schedule and 49th in remaining strength of schedule. The remaining SOS does not include a potential ACC Championship game.

David Hale of ESPN posted earlier this week that Miami is the only team nationally with a 4-0 record versus the top 40 in the FPI. BYU is 2-0 versus the CFP top 25 and Miami is 1-0 with the win at Louisville. The ACC is stronger at the top than the Big XII. CFP rankings will be released every Tuesday until conference championship weekend.