Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said Monday that preseason rankings should not exist, that early polls give "people talking points that are idiots," and that the Hurricanes will not count how many ranked teams they played until the season is over.
Dawson was speaking two days after Miami finished its September slate and four days before its next game against Clemson on Saturday. The Canes moved to No. 4 in the AP poll after a 52-3 win over Central Michigan and Ole Miss losing to Florida.
NEW: Miami OC Shannon Dawson takes a shot at the SEC and says there shouldn’t be rankings until October:
— On3 (@On3) September 28, 2026
"Everything's SEC, SEC. They have all their teams in the top 25. Good for you. At the end of the year, half of them will be in the top 30. We can’t sit here and say, ‘hey, we… pic.twitter.com/fuNLCvWZVN
Shannon Dawson speaks candidly on the top 25 rankings
"First of all, there should be no such thing as preseason rankings. That's the most ridiculous thing on the planet. That is the stupidest thing, because people weigh those things way heavier than they should. You shouldn't have a ranking until October. How do you know?"Shannon Dawson
Dawson specifically pointed to Texas A&M as the example. The Aggies opened the season in the top 10, at No. 9, and are 2-2 and out of the top 25 poll after a 35-6 loss at LSU.
Four teams dropped out of the AP Top 25 after Week 4: Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan and Louisville.
"Texas A&M was ranked in the top five, but how does that look right now? If anything, it isn't predictable for the future, it's the past. Go look at the top 10 last year. I did. Five of them weren't even in the top 25."Shannon Dawson
Miami's remaining regular-season schedule currently includes just one ranked opponent, No. 3 Notre Dame on Nov. 7 in South Bend. Clemson is 3-1 and unranke, while Pittsburgh (52), Duke (101) and Virginia Tech (86) are all 4-0 and receiving votes. Wake Forest, which Miami beat 33-20 a few weeks back, has 88 votes to its name.
"So we sit here and look at schedules, and obviously everything is SEC, SEC. Well look, they have all of their teams in the top 25. Guess what. Good for you. At the end of the year, half of them won't be in the top 30. That's just the way it is. We can't sit here and say, 'hey, we play X number of top-25 teams.' We don't know that. We'll count those chips up at the end of the year."Shannon Dawson
The SEC has 10 teams in this week's AP Top 25: No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Florida, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 11 LSU, No. 16 Mississippi State, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 24 Kentucky and No. 25 Missouri.
The ACC has two ranked teams: No. 4 Miami and No. 21 SMU.
Miami's recent history against the SEC helps Dawson's point
While nobody is arguing that Miami's schedule is murderers' row, the Hurricanes have had some success against the SEC during the Mario Cristobal era, helping Dawson's argument.
- Sept. 17, 2022: at No. 23 Texas A&M, L 9-17
- Sept. 9, 2023: vs. No. 23 Texas A&M, W 48-33
- Aug. 31, 2024: at Florida, W 41-17
- Sept. 20, 2025: vs. Florida, W 26-7
- Dec. 20, 2025: at No. 7 Texas A&M (CFP first round), W 10-3
- Jan. 8, 2026: vs. No. 6 Ole Miss (CFP semifinal, Fiesta Bowl), W 31-27
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