The path to the playoffs looks mostly done for Miami with this version of the rankings.
On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff (CFP) committee released the 5th installment of its rankings for the 2024 season. After setting the foundation for the seedings and revealing some of the underlying logic last week with the first release, this week’s rankings continued along that path as we move through the month of November.
Coming off a loss against the Syracuse Orange to fall to 10-2 and thusly be eliminated from the ACC Championship game (yet again), Miami saw their ranking plummet. And, for the first time this season, Miami is not projected to be the ACC Champion. Which makes sense, since the Canes will be at home watching the ACC Championship game and not playing in it. Here are the details for Miami’s precipitous rankings drop:
Miami at exactly 12th. Down 6 spots after losing to Syracuse.
— StateOfTheU.com (@TheStateOfTheU) December 4, 2024
Here is the full bracket and seeding, for your viewing pleasure:
Despite as many wins against bowl teams as any team in the country (5), despite being a major national brand, despite having a Heisman trophy candidate (likely finalist) at quarterback, Miami’s second loss was reason enough for the committee to drop their ranking to 12th behind 3-loss Alabama and outside the top 12 seedings projection for this year’s Playoffs. Remember, rankings and seedings are different things.
This furthers the point that we (and others) have been making: there’s an overt and clear SEC bias and the committee didn’t even try to hide it. By ranking 2-loss Miami behind a 3-loss SEC team, a team who has a worse overall record, and worse performances like getting blown out 27-3 (Alabama). they’re saying that results don’t matter. It’s a popularity contest and the deciding factor is which conference a team plays in. And, since Miami isn’t an SEC team, they get screwed.
With this current ranking, there’s likely no path for Miami to end up in the 12 team playoffs, regardless of any result during Championship Weekend.
For the first time this season, Miami is fully a passenger in this process. After a full season of being in control of their own path, Miami’s loss at Syracuse — after blowing a 21-0 lead no less — no puts them in the position of having to watch and wait while other teams play to determine their CFP fortunes.
The final CFP bracket will be revealed on Sunday afternoon following the conclusion of Conference Championship Saturday. For Miami, it’s time to root for SMU and hope the committee puts them in the bracket as an at-large team.
We’ll find out if those hopes are fulfilled or dreams destroyed at noon on Sunday.
EDIT: NO NEED TO WAIT!!!
When directly asked if the committee would re-evaluate the standings of teams, committee chair Warde Manuel said the committee “will not adjust” the rankings of teams outside the conference championship games. Which means Miami will stay behind 3-loss Alabama and that will not change.
As such, Miami is officially eliminated from the College Football Playoffs.
What a fucking disgrace.