Although the Miami Hurricanes moved up one spot from No. 13 to No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, not everyone is overly thrilled about it. During Tuesday night's College Football Playoff rankings show, ESPN analyst Joey Galloway did not have the nicest things to say about Mario Cristobal's 9-2 team over in ACC country. He downplayed the Virginia Tech win majorly.
Only Galloway can a find a way to diminish a 17-point win over a rival and chalk it up to a 10-point win.
"They played Virginia Tech. Now, they won the game. They added a touchdown at the end. It was meaningless, so let's call it a 10-point win. To see them move up, this is setting up the conversation everybody's been wanting to have. Can they get close enough to Notre Dame to get them in the same grouping when we're comparing these teams? Very interesting move to see them move up one."
Is winning by 17 points over a rival better than beating them by 10? Winning with margin is important!
Joey Galloway says Miami really only won by 10 vs VT pic.twitter.com/wJyRdZ4PGu
— Grant Speaks (@GrantSpeaks1) November 26, 2025
Miami enters Week 14 at 9-2 overall and 5-2 in ACC play. They have two signature wins under their belt over Notre Dame and South Florida. It could get a third with a road win over Pitt on Saturday. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Miami has a 20.1-percent chance of making the playoff, while only an 8.8-percent chance of winning the ACC. This is a team that will remain highly debated.
Why is ESPN and the College Football Playoff making it so hard for Miami to get its due in all of this?
ESPN only seems to want Miami in the playoff field on their own terms
ESPN and the College Football Playoff seems to be talking out of the sides of their mouths when discussing Miami. While recently appointed College Football Playoff Selection Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek spoke highly of Carson Beck's improved consistency, everybody and their brother keeps trying to find more new ways to regularly rank a team Miami beat ahead of them in Notre Dame.
No, the SMU loss was not one of quality until very recently. Even though the Louisville defeat is looking worse by the day, it is still better than Alabama's at Florida State. There may be levels to this, but Miami does not need teams with flimsier resumes to be propped ahead of them. Notre Dame has a few quality wins, but it is more about who the lost to. For Utah, it is really only about who they lost to.
In the end, Miami will have to beat Pittsburgh this weekend to have any hope of the playoff. If the Hurricanes can get to Charlotte and win the ACC, then they will be slotted into the field accordingly. What should bother everyone is Notre Dame getting to pick and choose who it plays as a national independent is not good for the sport within the context of the expanded College Football Playoff.
Miami needed to move up a week ago, but thankfully, the Hurricanes are fully ahead of Utah now.