On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff (CFP) committee released the second installment of its rankings for the 2026 season.
After being ranked #1 in the CFP for the first time ever, Miami dropped their first game of the season, falling 31-24 to then-11th ranked Notre Dame. After that loss, Miami has fallen from the #1 spot, but not too far. Now checking in at #5 in the AP poll and #6 in the Coaches poll, Miami now sits number 7 in the latest CFP rankings.
This is lower than I expected, to be honest. Miami and Notre Dame are both among the handful best teams in the country, and played a very tight 1-score game. I expected Notre Dame to be top 4 and Miami about 5th or 6th, but the Canes were dropped an additional spot due to the absence of Malachi Toney, I believe.
Also, 2-loss Texas being ranked over Miami at present is a JOKE of epic proportions. Absolutely laughable, that.
CFP Chair Hunter Yurachek said that Miami’s fall in the rankings was based upon the Canes going down 24-3, basically. “Miami didn’t look great early in the game” and mentioned “without Malachi Toney” multiple times. It’s clear they’re building a narrative to keep Miami’s ranking lower than it should be, but this isn’t anything new.
While Miami isn’t in the top spot any more, the path to the CFP is clear: win your last 3 ACC games and win the ACC Championship Game and you’re in. The Canes are still undefeated in the conference, and have games against Duke, Virginia Tech, and Boston College at home to round out the conference schedule. Win those and get to 11-1 and regardless of the result in the ACC Championship Game, the Canes should be in the playoffs. It’d be wonderful if, in the final year of the ACCCG, Miami won the damn thing and got an automatic bid into the CFP.
The full CFP Rankings are below:
After the loss to Notre Dame, Miami’s championship odds took a bit of a hit. According to our friends at FanDuel, Miami sits 4th in the current championship odds at +850.
#WellActually.
This number is now Miami +950, a further move from when I started drafting this piece on Monday night.
This number is down from the +600 that it was heading into last week, and the Canes are behind Georgia (+250), Notre Dame (+380), Alabama (+550), and Indiana (+900) in the current odds. Again, even with a loss, this is among the handful best teams in the country, and the rankings and betting odds both reflect that.
For Miami, the path to the Playoffs is clear: win. That’s the path forward, that’s the task at hand, that’s the job.
Time to work.
