Miami earned an emphatic, if sluggish, 38-10 win over Syracuse on Saturday. The game was scoreless until Miami had two late first-half touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead at halftime. Losses by Louisville and Virginia on Saturday should help Miami move up at least a couple of spots in the Associated Press Top 25.
Miami was 18th in the week 11 College Football Playoff rankings, AP Top 25 and USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. The Hurricanes fell one spot to 13th in the ESPN Football Power Index. A team to watch in the rankings ahead of Miami is 16th 16th-ranked Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt beat 4-6 Auburn 45-38 in overtime. Will Miami will move up two spots to 16th with the losses by Louisville and Virginia? Louisville fell to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the ACC. Virginia is 8-2 overall and suffered its first ACC loss after five consecutive wins to begin the season.
The questions for Miami are, will voters drop Vanderbilt after needing overtime to defeat Auburn and can Louisville stay ahead of Miami with the same record and a win over the Hurricanes? Vanderbilt will almost assuredly stay ahead of Miami. Louisville seems likely to drop below Miami with a home loss to unranked California.
Projected where Miami will be ranked in Week 12 College Football Polls
Based on the losses by Louisville and Virginia and the results from the other teams in front of them, Miami is likely to be 16th when the AP Top 25 and coaches polls are released on Sunday afternoon. Georgia Tech, 17th in the week 11 AP Top 25 and 17th in the Coaches Poll, is likely to remain the top-ranked ACC team.
Miami needs to continue to win out and likely impressively to have a chance to rise in the polls and have any chance of earning a CFP berth. The CFP committee gave an inexecusable reason for ranking Notre Dame ahead of Miami despite the Hurricanes owning a win over the Fighting Irish and both teams having two losses.