This week’s release of the College Football Playoff rankings heading into conference championship weekend has Miami at the No. 12 slot and Texas at No. 13. Both are on the outside looking in as two final slots will be claimed by lower-ranked conference champions, and neither the Hurricanes nor the Longhorns are playing for those titles.
Miami and Texas, however, believe they should be considered for at-large positions. The continued politicking for CFP positions again shows that even with an expanded, 12-team field for the CFP, the recriminations are just as strong as during the prior four-team era—if not more so.
In the Hurricanes’ case, they are a two-loss team that has defeated Notre Dame, another two-loss team standing at No. 10. The Longhorns have three losses, but two of those are to No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Georgia, and Texas also claims wins over two other top-10 teams and No. 14 Vanderbilt.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian went on an extended media tour this week to make his team’s CFP case, repeatedly highlighting the Longhorns’ unusually stacked schedule this year. It was to no avail.
“We’ve played the hardest schedule of all the remaining teams left in the CFP, and that’s supposed to be the No. 1 criteria, strength of schedule,” Sarkisian said. “The second [criteria] is supposed to be head-to-head competition. Well, there’s two teams [Oklahoma and Texas A&M] that are in there that we beat by multiple scores. So is that head-to-head competition or not?”
Fans Cry Bias
Fans of both Miami and Texas have also spent this week flooding social media and sports talk shows, complaining about a perceived bias toward the Southeastern Conference, which could place five teams in the field.
“No words. These ESPN/CFP invitational rankings are a joke,” tweeted Chuck Todd, former host of Meet the Press and a Miami-area native, referencing the Disney-owned outlet that will show the tournament and has a larger rights relationship with the SEC.
“The bias toward the SEC is the tell. Both [Oklahoma] and Bama should be below Miami and Notre Dame. But typical SEC bias. If Ole Miss were not in the SEC, I promise you this [committee] would have dropped them, too. It is what it is. I know Miami will be screwed again,” Todd wrote.
Miami’s candidacy is complicated by the Atlantic Coast Conference’s championship matchup between Duke and Virginia, a messy situation that leaves out the Hurricanes, the conference’s highest-ranked team, out of the game—and could keep the ACC out of the CFP altogether if the unranked Blue Devils win. The Hurricanes lost out to Duke in a five-way tiebreaker to face Virginia for the ACC title.
This week has also featured sniping between Sarkisian and Miami head coach Mario Cristobal. On Monday, Sarkisian claimed the Hurricanes ran up the score in a 38–7 win over Pittsburgh in an attempt to sway the committee. That game featured a Miami touchdown with less than a minute remaining.
“Is the committee watching the games, or are they looking at a stat sheet at the end of the game to say, ‘Oh, well they won by this many points. They must’ve played really good,’” Sarkisian said on the SEC Network.
Cristobal pointed to the teams’ respective schedules in response. “That’s funny,” he told On3. “We had one common opponent. Florida dominated Texas 29–21, a team we beat convincingly, 26–7. That settles that debate.”
Both teams, however, are looking at lesser bowl games instead of the CFP to finish out their seasons.
