The Miami Hurricanes were lingering in the College Football Playoff conversation last year, but Bruce Feldman believes that this could be the year for them.
In his latest projection, the reporter from The Athletic not only has Miami breaking into the CFP field, but he has them matched up against the Georgia Bulldogs, creating a potential first-round showdown filled with storylines.
Miami is listed as the ninth seed in Feldman’s bracket, heading to Athens to face Georgia, who would be hosting as the eighth
seed.
What a scene that would be.
Carson Beck leading the Hurricanes to their first-ever CFP berth and having to play his former team, back where it all started for him.
In this scenario, Miami would face a very familiar opponent if the Canes were to beat Georgia in the first round.
The reporter has Clemson as his top team in the country, and earning the number one spot in the bracket. This would mean they would have defeated the Canes in the ACC Championship game, with a possible rematch now on the line in this scenario.
Feldman only had them as one of the two teams from the ACC to make the playoffs.
Another team that Miami is familiar with is Notre Dame, which Feldman projected to be the tenth seed in the CFP and travel to Iowa State to play the Cyclones.
On the other hand, prominent college football analyst Josh Pate revealed his CFP bracket, which had the Hurricanes at home, with only Clemson as the only ACC representative.
Pate has two of Miami’s opponents in the bracket, including the Fighting Irish and the Florida Gators.
Not only does he have the Gators making it, but he has them hosting a playoff game in Gainesville against their SEC rival, Georgia.
Pate has Clemson as the fifth seed, hosting Boise State in the first round, and not receiving the bye as a conference champion. Other notable teams listed include the Penn State Nittany Lions, who are his top seed, and Oregon, which he has upsetting them in the semifinals.
He has Alabama defeating the Ducks in the National Championship.
ESPN just had their 12 college football reporters predict the 12-team CFP bracket, and there is a lot of belief in the Hurricanes.
Ten of the twelve reporters have Miami making the playoffs. Five of the reporters have them as the 11th seed, while the rest have them in that ninth and tenth spot. The highest seed they were predicted to be at was eight by Andrea Adelson.
The defending national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, were the eighth seed last season, and that played out well for them.
Maybe history repeats itself for the eighth seed in Adelson’s prediction?
The Canes will host the Fighting Irish on Sunday night to kick off the 2025 season and their road to the playoffs on ABC, as the rivalry will be reignited in a top-ten showdown.
