NMiami nearly had the huge result they needed with a team in front of them in the rankings losing. Utah rallied from a 10-point deficit with seven minutes left before scoring two touchdowns to earn a 52-48 win. Miami won 34-17 on Saturday at Virginia Tech.
The College Football Playoff rankings, Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls can differ. Teams seem to move more often in the CFP rankings. Miami passed Vanderbilt last week in the CFP rankings after a 41-7 win over North Carolina State and the Commodores were on a bye week.
No teams in front of Miami in the CFP rankings lost on Saturday. Miami would have moved up if Utah had not rallied to win. The question from the voters in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls and the CFP committee is whether Miami, Utah, or both lose votes because of their performances on Saturday.
Miami controlled the entire game against Virginia Tech, but did not play well in the fourth quarter. The Hurricanes needed a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining in the game for the final 34-17 margin. Virginia Tech finished with 395 total yards, 194 rushing yards and had 159 total yards in the fourth quarter.
Amen!
— Josh Darrow (@joshdarrow) November 22, 2025
If ND has a quality loss, that means they lost to a good team.
That team is MIAMI.
In addition, Miami has a HIGH QUALITY WIN.
A win over a Top 10 team is not the same as a win over a Top 25 team. It’s better.
Somehow WINNING has been marginalized. https://t.co/MPuSlv5bIL
The Utah comeback was impressive, but allowing 48 points and 472 rushing yards to Kansas was not. A lot has been made that the losses by Notre Dame and Utah were to ranked teams and Miami was defeated by two unranked teams.
When the national polls are released on Sunday and the CFP rankings are announced on Tuesday, SMU will likely be on all three. SMU won 38-6 on Saturday over Louisville in a matchup of the two teams to beat Miami. After starting the season with losses in two of its first three games, SMU has won six of its last seven.
Number two Indiana, fifth-ranked Texas Texas and Mississippi, who is sixth in the CFP rankings were on byes this week. The other 11 teams in the top 14 of the CFP all won. Teams at the lower end of the CFP rankings lost, which should allow SMU to move up.
Number 21 Illinois lost 27-10 at unranked Wisconsin. Twenty-second-ranked Missouri lost 17-6 at eighth-ranked Oklahoma. Number 23 Houston lost 17-14 at home to unranked TCU. SMU being ranked could help Miami and would reduce the losses by the Hurricanes to unranked teams to one.