In his article, "ACC football 2025 game-by-game predictions: Clemson, Miami driven to be top teams", Brad Crawford of 247Sports projects the Hurricanes to be 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. Crawford projects Miami's only two 2025 losses to be versus Florida and at SMU.
With a 10-2 projection, it is surprising Crawford predicts Miami to beat Notre Dame in the season opener at home, then lose to Florida three weeks later. In between the season opener versus Notre Dame and Florida in week four, Crawford predicts Miami will defeat Bethune-Cookman and South Florida.
Crawford then predicts Miami wins over Florida State, Louisville and at Stanford before the Hurricanes' sole ACC loss at SMU and then finishing the season with wins over Syracuse, NC State, at Virginia Tech and at Pittsburgh. Crawford predicts Miami to fall just short of earning an ACC Championship Game berth.
Clemson is predicted to finish 10-2 overall and 8-0 in the ACC and SMU to finish with an identical 10-2 record and 7-1 in the conference with the sole loss at Clemson. SMU would win the tiebreaker against Miami with a head-to-head win. SMU's games at Clemson and versus Miami could be the most important in the ACC in 2025.
Updated odds to win the 2025-26 CFB National Championship:
— Dan Thompson (@DKThompson) January 12, 2025
Texas: +450
Georgia: +550
Ohio State: +550
Oregon: +700
Penn State: +1000
Alabama: +1600
Miami: +1800
Florida: +5000
Florida State: +10000
"Buy stock in the Hurricanes now as a College Football Playoff threat with former Georgia star Carson Beck now leading the offense. Opening with a win over a top 5 Notre Dame team is going to push the hype meter past 100 for this program. Keep an eye on the rest of the season, though. If Miami finishes one win short of the playoff again under Mario Cristobal, 2025 will be considered a disappointment regardless of how the Hurricanes open."Brad Crawford, 247Sports
In order of appearance on the 2025 Miami schedule, Crawford predicts Florida State to finish 7-5, 5-3, Louisville, 7-5, 3-5, Louisville, 5-7, 3-5, Syracuse 6-6, 4-4, North Carolina State 6-6, 3-5, Virginia Tech 7-5, 4-4 and Pittsburgh 5-7, 3-5. Miami has what should be a manageable schedule in 2025.
Florida State and SMU are the only teams on the 2025 Miami schedule that Crawford projects to have winning records in the ACC. In his SEC Game-by-game predictions, Crawford projects Florida to finish 8-4 overall and 4-4 in the SEC. Florida also plays Long Island, Florida State and South Florida in their other three non-conference games.
Miami either needs a split versus Notre Dame and Florida or to win the ACC outright to have a chance at the College Football Playoff. Even if Miami were to finish 10-2 in the regular season, go 8-0 in the ACC but lose in the conference championship game, it is difficult to see a path for a 10-3 Hurricanes team to earn a CFP berth.