The 2026 Miami Hurricanes will have to experience becoming a target when encountering ACC opponents next season. In 2025, the Hurricanes became the "darlings" of college football when the program did the unthinkable, going on the road and winning games in the College Football Playoff against programs, that many thought were more superior.
Although the Canes national championship hopes did not materialize, the Hurricanes' success could have resulted in many ACC teams taking notice.
Entering into the 2025 College Football Playoffs, the Miami Hurricanes were the lone Atlantic Coastal Conference team selected to compete in the tournament. They fared well, especially, when one considers how the Canes did not capture the ACC title.
One could only imagine how the Hurricanes' ACC rivals felt when they were not considered one of the teams to play in the CFP. If one considers teams like the Duke Blue Devils, or the Virginia Cavaliers, that finished the ACC Conference race just ahead of the Hurricanes, one could conclude how these programs would deem the Canes becoming selected to play in the CFP, unfair.
These teams might have felt slighted that they were not granted the opportunity to compete for a national title when both teams competed in the ACC Championship game.
It will come to no surprise that both leaders in the ACC standings, particularly, Duke might be thinking, "It could have been us." Next season, the Miami Hurricanes will encounter each ACC opponents best. This is understandable when one considers how those programs might have felt seeing a program finishing third in the ACC standings, almost capturing a national championship title.
Of course, it is not the Miami Hurricanes fault how this scenario played out when the program was selected as one of the twelve programs in the College Football Playoff. The ACC, to some, could be a conference of unpredictability.
Clemson has owned the ACC for much of the decade, but Duke, Virginia, and Miami have recently emerged as programs on the rise in the ACC.
Vengeance is scary and in 2026, the Hurricanes must consider how they will become a target in the conference, due to last season's "Cinderella run" in the CFP, as well as the Canes being the only team selected from the ACC with a chance to realize their championship dreams.