Miami has opportunity for perfect revenge in way-too-early CBS bowl projections

CBS Sports dropped its full set of 2026 bowl projections, and Brad Crawford has the Miami Hurricanes slotted as the No. 1 seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff, sitting on a first-round bye and waiting in the Peach Bowl quarterfinal.

In Crawford's projected bracket, Miami would open its postseason run against the winner of a first-round matchup between No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 LSU.

Miami Hurricanes projected No. 1 seed by CBS Sports

Crawford has Texas as the No. 2 seed and Indiana as the No. 3 seed, while Notre Dame sits at No. 4.

Crawford has Ole Miss at Oregon in the 7-10 game, USC at Georgia in the 6-11 game, and Memphis at Texas Tech in the 5-12 game. The quarterfinal pairings would be Miami vs. the Ohio State-LSU survivor, Texas vs. the Oregon-Ole Miss winner, Indiana vs. the Georgia-USC winner, and Notre Dame vs. the Texas Tech-Memphis winner.

For ACC fans, Crawford's bowl picks include Clemson vs. Houston in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, Virginia Tech vs. Washington in the Holiday Bowl, and Louisville vs. Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl. He also predicts Auburn-Virginia in the Gasparilla Bowl, Georgia Tech-Tulane in the Fenway Bowl, NC State-Nebraska in the Pinstripe Bowl, Navy-Pittsburgh in the Military Bowl, Duke-Kentucky in the Birmingham Bowl, and Illinois-Florida State in Duke's Mayo Bowl.

In the case of Miami, this is a sign that top tier expectations are on the way. Many fans will be expecting Miami, with the addition of Duke QB Darian Mensah, to compete for a national championship again. The No. 1 seed puts the Hurricanes in play for that.

They would also have the perfect opportunity for revenge against Indiana in the CFP, per these projections. Multiple teams will be looking for revenge and potential rematches next year, but for Miami, beating Indiana to win it all (or on the way to a national championship) would be something out of a movie script.