Miami football done wrong by CFP rankings, ACC tiebreakers | D'Angelo
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If the ACC was looking for the College Football Playoff Selection Committee to clean up its mess, it was not going to happen.
If the conference was hoping for the committee to bail it out and put the Miami Hurricanes in the playoff because its ridiculous tie-breaker will prevent the Hurricanes from that chance, sorry. That is not their job.
The committee has Miami as the top ranked ACC team and in the top 12, as it should be. Now, you can debate if the Hurricanes should be No. 10, 11 or 12 — and everyone would have a valid argument for any of those spots — but the bottom line is Miami should be playing in the ACC championship game with a spot in the playoff on the line.
And if the ACC did its job, that is what we would have had: Miami vs. Virginia, the winner headed to a place like Oxford, Miss.; or College Station, Texas; for a playoff game.
Instead, Miami was at the mercy of the committee, which, by the way, did a nice job seeding the first nine teams … and creating controversy with the next five.
Most will agree it got the next five teams right. But it's the order — No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 BYU, No. 12 Miami, No. 13 Texas, No. 14 Vanderbilt — that is blowing up every sports talk show and social media site.
Putting Miami behind Notre Dame is the committee's first head scratcher. Not a good look, or precedent. Not when the two have the same record (10-2) and a head-to-head result: Miami, 27-24.
Miami's spot is more reflective of being the only team in the top 15 to lose twice to unranked teams (then and now) and beat one team in the ACC with a winning record.
But the Miami-Notre Dame ranking would be moot if anyone in the ACC recognized this five-team tiebreaker makes little sense and might not be best for the conference. If someone just spoke up and pointed out the best way to decide a multi-team tie when head-to-head is not in play is to chose the highest ranked team.
Miami then would have had a chance to play itself in or out of the playoff against Virginia.
ACC ridiculous tiebreaker keeps Miami out of playoff
Now, the conference is in danger of being left out of the playoff if 7-5 Duke wins the championship. That would have Jim Phillips as the first conference commissioner on the hot seat.
Note: The penultimate rankings were adjusted so a BYU win over Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game would knock Notre Dame, and not Alabama, out of the playoff.
Some solace for Hurricanes' fan.
But the decision that could have a lasting effect on college football is Texas being outside the top 12. The Longhorns have a resume unmatched this year and a strong argument to be in the playoff despite three losses.
Texas played as many top 10 teams (five) in the regular season as Ohio State, Texas Tech, Notre Dame, BYU and Miami … combined. Winning three of those.
Two of its losses were against No. 1 (Ohio State) and No. 3 (Georgia) in the rankings. The loss at Ohio State was by a touchdown when the Buckeyes' closest margin of victory after Texas is 18 points.
All of which means the Longhorns are more deserving than any of those teams of a spot in the 12-team field.
And when committee chair Hunter Yurachek acts like Texas' loss to Florida is what kept them out, it's with a wink-wink. Because if the Longhorns did not play Ohio State, and opened with Lubbock Christian University, they would be No. 8 in the rankings. At least.
Which now has the elite schools rethinking those early season, made-for-TV out-of-conference games, especially with playing nine conference games.
Why chance a loss to another powerhouse when you can play Samford?
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian already is on the soap box. Others will follow.
"Why did we even play Ohio State? If we are a 10-2 team right now that played four top-10 opponents, we are ranked sixth in the country and not even having this discussion," Sarkisian said on SiriusXM radio.
"So why the hell am I going to play that game next year?"
A question, sadly, every coach has every right to ask, which is college football's loss.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami football, Notre Dame CFP rankings could have long-term impact
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