ESPN analyst Greg McElroy just became the latest national voice to weigh in on the Notre Dame vs. Miami playoff debate ahead of the final regular season CFP rankings.
McElroy said the College Football Playoff committee is essentially staring at two 10-2 teams with almost identical resumes and has to decide whether to follow its own protocol or lean hard into the "eye test." He pointed out that in metrics like strength of record and strength of schedule, Miami and Notre Dame sit "right next to each other."
"The College Football Playoff committee is going to have to look at the eye test over some of the resume gaps and frankly right now some of the metrics between Miami and Notre Dame are literally right next to each other. You look at strength of record and strength of schedule and there is two spots between the two... If they are in the same group, then you talk about the head-to-head match-up."Greg McElroy
This is exactly what Hurricanes fans have been saying for weeks
If two comparable teams land in the same evaluation group, head-to-head is supposed to matter. If ND-Miami are in the same group, then the conversation has to shift to that Week 1 meeting in Miami Gardens, where the Hurricanes beat the Irish.
On Aug. 31 at Hard Rock Stadium, No. 10 Miami dug in late and outlasted No. 6 Notre Dame 27-24, getting a fourth-quarter field goal from Carter Davis and leaning on a defense that held the Irish scoreless in two different quarters. Miami outgained Notre Dame on the ground, forced key stops in the middle quarters and opened its season with a top-10 win. And all that happened as underdogs according to Vegas.
The Irish closed the regular season with a 49–20 blowout at Stanford, have won 10 straight since starting 0-2 and sit No. 9 in the latest selection committee rankings. Meanwhile Miami is parked at No. 12 in those same rankings, right behind BYU and just ahead of Vanderbilt.
The next CFP rankings drop Tuesday night, with the committee set to release its penultimate top 25 before Selection Sunday on Dec. 7.