Heading into the final hours before the 12-team CFP bracket was selected, Miami was the ACC's best and only legitimate option to make the cut. The Hurricanes jumped in as a 10-seed and advanced to the CFP Championship Game.
And after the Big Ten and SEC couldn't decide on a road to expansion for the 2026 season, Miami will go into next season as the ACC's best, and possibly only legitimate chance to make the bracket.
BREAKING: The College Football Playoff is expected to remain at 12 teams next season, @Clowfb, @Brett_McMurphy & @PeteNakos report🏆https://t.co/eIUry1lEXX pic.twitter.com/fFhKaQWLyx
— On3 (@On3) January 23, 2026
These conferences wrangling over the CFP format sounds like some ridiculous soap opera drama.
The SEC wanted to expand it to 16 teams, which would likely have included some sort of guarantee for the ACC, be it the highest-ranked team or conference champion. But the Big Ten wanted assurance that the 16-team bracket would become a 24-team bracket by the end of the decade. The SEC didn't like that out of the fear that the more teams involved, the more that conference would get exposed because, you know, it just means more.
CFP sticking with 12 teams means Miami must win ACC
This past season was a strange one in the ACC and Miami turned out to be the beneficiary. It was the right move, of course, but the ACC got extremely lucky despite all attempts to sabotage themselves. Duke ended up being the team that survived a ridiculous tiebreaker that didn't consider the teams with the most wins or highest ranking. But the Blue Devils saved the conference by upsetting Virginia in the title game and making Miami the only viable option.
Miami's best route to returning to the CFP is to simply win the ACC and end all discussion. The Hurricanes have yet to win a conference championship in the ACC since joining in 2004, and they will be the undisputed favorites to do so next season. It would be another major feather in the cap for Mario Cristobal and a statement from the Hurricanes to say the ACC and the CFP run through Coral Gables.
FanDuel already gives Miami the 9th-best odds (-1600, tied with Texas A&M) to win the CFP in 2026. The Hurricanes are the only ACC team among the first 20 listed on the odds board.