During an ESPN SportsCenter appearance on Sunday, longtime analyst Paul Finebaum stated he is disappointed in the College Football Playoff committee for not considering the 27-24 Miami win over Notre Dame in week one.
Finebaum doubled down that head-to-head should matter during his SportsCenter appearance. The question asked of Finebaum was he "Paul in or Paul out" on Notre Dame being in the College Football Playoff. Finebaum told the ESPN SportsCenter anchors that they know the answer.
In his initial response during that SportsCenter appearance, Finebaum stated the anchors (more likely the producers) want him to continue the war with Notre Dame fans. Finebaum stated the bottom line is that he values head-to-head.
Finebaum stated he is old school because he is old, but that head-to-head should matter. Miami beat Notre Dame on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, which Finebaum acknowledged, but then restated that head-to-head should still matter.
Finebaum doubles down that head-to-head should matter
"I wish the selection committee would actually consider...that Miami and Notre Dame, once met on the field...on the final Sunday night in August, but they have seemingly forgotten that...They'll continue to forget that this week when they look at the two games and see that Miami only won by four touchdowns and Notre Dame won by 14...against Syracuse. That's not the way we should be deciding teams...I know I sound like a broken record, but this committee has really disappointed me on what should be one of the biggest tiebreakers and that is head-to-head."Paul Finebaum, ESPN
Finebaum doubled down that head-to-head should matter when determining who receives a College Football Playoff berth later in the same segment in response to comments from ESPN national reporter Heather Dinich.
Finebaum making the case for Miami to receive a College Football Playoff berth over Notre Dame is probably surprising for the consensus of Hurricanes fans. The perception of Finebaum among Miami fans is that he has usually been biased against the Hurricanes.
CFP Committee Chair Hunter Yurachek stated that Miami was hindered by losses to unranked Louisville and SMU. Notre Dame lost to Miami and Texas A&M. Texas A&M is 11-0 and ranked third nationally heading into its final regular-season game on Friday at Texas.
When @finebaum is saying Miami is getting screwed here, you know it has to be bad. https://t.co/GlU2NQFeJj
— Sean Ford 🌟🌟 (@seanford) November 19, 2025
Notre Dame being ranked ahead of Miami sends a message that quality losses matter more than quality wins. SMU is 25th in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls released on Sunday. Pittsburgh moved into both polls at 24th nationally on Sunday.
The committee will have one less point to make with Miami now only having one loss to an unranked team. A win over Pittsburgh will also give Miami two wins over ranked teams, but likely knock Pittsburgh out of the rankings. The College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Tuesday night.
Notre Dame's 34-24 win over number 19/20 USC is their only win over a ranked team this season. If Miami beats Pittsburgh, they will have two wins over ranked teams to one for Notre Dame, plus a head-to-head victory over the Fighting Irish. Those wins should be enough to put Miami ahead of Notre Dame.