The more the College Football Playoff committee insists on keeping Notre Dame ahead of Miami, the more it feels like everyone else is starting to line up behind the Hurricanes. Tuesday night's CFP rankings kept Notre Dame at No. 9, while Miami climbed to No. 12 and is projected to visit No. 6 Oregon in the first round (No. 11 vs No. 6 matchup). The committee nudged the Hurricanes past Utah, but still left them three spots behind an Irish team they beat head-to-head in the opener.
CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek says Notre Dame and Miami were in the same grouping this week and the programs were directly compared.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 26, 2025
Notre Dame still came out ahead, regardless of the head to head.
In other words, all the games mattered. Not just one of them.
The gap between Notre Dame and Miami in the rankings has become the story of college football this season. Both Notre Dame and Miami are 9-2. Miami owns the 27–24 win in Week 1. Yet Notre Dame remains the higher ranked team.
College football fans know that this is bad for the sport
This is where the sympathy starts to build for Miami. Fans of other programs do not need to love Miami to understand a simple argument: if the records are the same and the head-to-head favors the Hurricanes, why do they continue to chase the Irish from behind? Each week that question arises, and even if you have never rooted for Miami in a game before, it seems like a lot of fans realize this is a bad precedent to set in college football.
Hunter Yurachek, the chairman if the CFP committee, didn't exactly provide solid reasoning on Tuesday as to why ND is still ranked ahead. Prior to the last rankings, it was reported that ND and Miami weren't compared since they were in different groups in the rankings. But, on Tuesday, they were in the same grouping, yet the committee went with the same decision as in the past. That kind of stuff will destroy the trust and patience a fanbase has for the committee. And, in turn, will bring a lot more people to root for Miami to find a way in.
The highlighted part below is what Hunter Yurachek is referring to as far as a Notre Dame-Miami comparison.
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) November 19, 2025
Miami is No. 13. If the Hurricanes get to 12, the calculus changes: pic.twitter.com/KVsh5pTwAj
For Miami, that strange reality is now part of the brand. If Mario Cristobal's team wins at Pitt and finishes 10-2, the football world will want the Hurricanes in the playoff. And the longer Notre Dame stays in front, the more the rest of the college football world will be ready to riot in their support.