Miami enters its second bye week of the season at 5-0 and No. 2 in the AP poll. The Hurricanes already have a resume that includes wins over Notre Dame, USF, Florida and Florida State. With no game until Louisville on Oct. 17, Week 7 becomes a rooting exercise to sharpen the Hurricanes' strength of schedule and trim the College Football Playoff field around them.
The obvious choices: Notre Dame, USF and FSU
Start Friday night by pulling for South Florida at North Texas. The Bulls are 4-1 and back in the rankings after a quick hiatus. Every USF win after Miami's 49–12 decision makes that result age better and a road victory here would position USF well before their matchup against No. 23 Memphis later on. USF might be the G6 representative in the CFP so as a Miami fan you should be all in on their success.
On Saturday, back Notre Dame at home against NC State. Miami's opening-night 27–24 win over the Irish has the chance to be their best result if ND wins out. Padding Notre Dame's record helps them rise up the rankings as other teams fall (they already sit at No. 16). Now, with ND winning, it would soften a future ACC challenger in NC State but an Irish win here is simply more important to Miami's strength of schedule.
Root for Florida State at home against Pitt. The Seminoles' record feeds back into Miami's road win in Tallahassee. FSU already got some respect from the AP voters by being ranked No. 25 despite losing two straight games but they won't get another chance to re-enter the Top 25 for a while if they lose to Pitt.
Help the strength of schedule the rest of the way: SMU and Georgia Tech
Among upcoming opponents, favor SMU over Stanford in Dallas. Miami visits the Mustangs on Nov. 1 and if SMU strings wins together and creeps into or near the Top 25, the Hurricanes would have a potential ranked road game on the schedule. Stanford plays Miami later when it travels to Hard Rock Stadium on Oct. 25, but the chance of SMU being ranked is more valuable.
Looking really far ahead: No. 13 Georgia Tech is probably a team that Miami fans should root for every week. Miami doesn't play Georgia Tech in the regular season but they are the second highest ranked team in the conference and could meet in the ACC title game. It's in Miami's best interest that their opponent in the ACC title game is ranked as high as possible. Georgia Tech looks like they would be that team. No. 19 Virginia and Duke (both 3-0 in ACC play and at the top of the conference) might have something to say about that, but both have suffered an out-of-conference loss while GT is undefeated.
More of a personal preference: Florida-Texas A&M and ranked matchups
Within the state, it could both help/hurt Miami if Florida knocks off No. 5 Texas A&M in College Station. While it helps Miami's Sept. 20 win over the Gators and dings an SEC team currently crowding the top of the rankings, the Canes would need Florida to continue winning for the rest of the season for it to really matter. Also, a Texas A&M loss would hurt the resume of Notre Dame as the Irish are relying on A&M and Miami to be as good as possible for their own sake. It's just about how you look at it and what outcome you value more. Miami is probably fine with either outcome but it's something to mention.
Nationally, the cleanest path to the highest seed for Miami is to have contenders take losses while the Canes stay undefeated. The ranked matchup outcomes that would be nice are No. 7 Indiana over No. 3 Oregon, No.17 Illinois over No. 1 Ohio State, and No. 8 Alabama over No. 14 Missouri. Obviously Indiana would remain undefeated but it would be unclear if they can jump Miami, even with a road win over Oregon. If Oregon won, they would almost certainly regain the No. 2 spot. Alabama would be building steam fast with another ranked win but Vanderbilt and Missouri don't hold the same weight as some of the other SEC teams in the conference. The narrative would be centered around how those teams are in the group under the elite SEC teams rather than something that could prop Bama above Miami. Also, Miami has the edge in the common opponent department compared to Alabama with their win over FSU. Either way, those two games (Oregon vs Indiana and Alabama vs Missouri) probably come down to personal preference as well.
Quick note: Illinois over Ohio State would give Miami the No. 1 spot — or keep them No. 2 if Oregon wins — but it would help Indiana a lot. If Indiana and Illinois win then the Hoosiers might just jump to No. 1 in that case. But, that scenario is the least likely of any this weekend.
Upsets that would be beneficial to Miami
Texas over No. 6 Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl and Washington State over No. 4 Ole Miss would knock off SEC unbeatens. Arizona over No. 18 BYU and Kansas over No. 9 Texas Tech could help Miami down the line. Top teams in the ACC and Big 12 often get compared to each other late in the season, so eliminating the unbeatens in that conference would be good for Miami.