Kris Budden of ESPN reported via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that the College Football Playoff committee did not factor in the Miami 27-24 win over Notre Dame in the season opener. The CFP committee only considers wins over other teams in contention if the teams are within three spots of each other.
Notre Dame was 10th in the initial 2025 CFP rankings that were released on Tuesday and Miami was 18th. The Fighting Irish and Hurricanes were both 6-2 after week 10, CFP committee chair Mack Rhodes said, "For Miami, it's about...their lack of consistency. We just need to see more consistency out of Miami headed down the stretch."
In all of professional sports, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. How well a team is playing at the end of the season does not matter. The season is viewed as a whole. In addition to its win over Notre Dame, Miami has more impressive wins other than the victory over the Fighting Irish.
South Florida and Florida State were both ranked 18th in the Associated Press Top 25 when Miami beat them. Miami beat South Florida 49-12 and controlled the game against Florida State before a late Seminoles rally fell short in a 28-22 Hurricanes' victory.
Had never heard what ESPN's @KrisBudden just reported on UM-Syracuse: Committee cannot/did not factor in UM's win over ND, in determining whether UM should be ranked above ND, because committee ranked ND so far ahead of UM (10 to 18). Per Budden, committee only would factor in…
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) November 8, 2025
The only win for Notre Dame over a team in the AP Top 25 was 34-24 over then 20th-ranked USC on October 18. Notre Dame is 10th in the week 11 AP Top 25 and Miami is 18th. Notre Dame is fifth and Miami is 12th ESPN Football Power Index.
Notre Dame was 15th and Miami 19th in ESPN FPI Strength of Record. Miami is 28th and Notre Dame 23rd in the ESPN FPI strength of schedule. All Miami can do is win its last three games and put the CFP committee in a position to have to at least consider them for a berth.