Ever beat someone and then watch them flex on you in the rankings, anyway? Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes know that pain. At number nine, we find the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, while the Hurricanes hold the 12th spot. Despite sitting three spots behind Notre Dame, a CFB analyst and a former Florida State Seminoles quarterback is planting its flag with Cristobal and Miami.

On November 27, Grant Speaks posted a clip of Danny Kanell’s take on a situation if both teams played on a neutral field at the current moment.

“I would probably pick Miami, Kanell said. I saw it already happen once.”

In a steamy season opener at Hard Rock Stadium, Notre Dame fell 27-24 to No. 10 Miami. The Canes, powered by Cristobal’s balanced play-calling and a pre-halftime highlight touchdown, held the upper hand early. The Irish rallied late, but a double-tipped interception slowed the momentum before CJ Carr tied it with a seven-yard score. 

Miami then iced the game, grinding out 46 yards in 10 snaps and splitting the uprights from 47 yards with just over a minute to go. Freeman said the message eventually reached Carr: it was time to feed Jeremiyah Love. The Irish erupted for 17 fourth-quarter points after that wake-up call. 

Still, luck favored Cristobal and co. as Love wrapped the night with only 59 total yards, 33 rushing on 10 totes and 26 receiving on four grabs. But what made Kanell dig through the Cristobal vs Marcus Freeman face-off now?

The CFP committee keeps hammering Miami for those “two unranked losses” while giving Notre Dame grace for falling only to the Canes and Texas A&M Aggies. Cristobal’s boys opened at No. 18 and have been climbing like they hit turbo mode, jumping six spots to No. 12. 

That rise shoved Miami right into Notre Dame’s neighborhood, meaning their Week 1 head-to-head is now officially a fair game in the CFP’s comparison pool. But the committee gave an inexcusable reason for pushing down Cristobal’s Miami behind Notre Dame. 

“In comparison to Notre Dame and Miami. They were compared this week, but they’re compared in the same pod with Alabama and a one-loss BYU, said Hunter Yurachek during an ESPN interview. The committee still feels that Notre Dame is a complete team, has been consistent throughout the season, and deserves to be ranked where they are at number nine.”

It’s not the first time something like this has happened. Back in 2016, the CFP committee found itself at a crossroads in choosing between Penn State and Ohio State for the final playoff spot. Ohio State scored sensational victories against #3 Michigan, #6 Wisconsin, and #8 Oklahoma.

At the same time, Penn State won the Big Ten Championship game against Wisconsin. However, the committee noted that Ohio State had a “better overall résumé” and awarded them a spot. Thus, the new Miami-Notre Dame tussle draws comparisons.

This Notre Dame vs Miami hoopla also led to tussles between Miami alum Michael Irvin and the Ohio State Buckeyes legend Kirk Herbstreit. 

Miami’s resurgence gave fire to the Michael Irvin vs. Kirk Herbstreit brouhaha

Significantly, Joel Klatt didn’t think the committee’s call to put Notre Dame over Mario Cristobal’s squad was some crime against football. He even said he’d roll with the Irish on a neutral site before turning his fire toward the ranking process. “Notre Dame is better than Miami today,” Cowherd remarked.

The Miami vs Notre Dame debate took another interesting turn with Herbstreit jumping in with his take. 

“‘At what point do head-to-head matchups stop counting?’ F****** never. They never stop counting. Don’t you think Ohio State has cheated Miami out of enough championships? You did it when y’all cheated after we whooped your a**, and now you want to try to get on this panel and cheat again,” said the Ohio State alum.

This left Michael Irvin upset.

“I am shocked at Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway. Are you going to tell me these two Ohio State jokers are not letting their personal bias get in the way?” came the Miami legend’s fiery take. 

Mario Cristobal and co.’s respect tour rolls on, but their path to the ACC Championship and the Playoff is out of their control. First, though, they’ve got the Pittsburgh Panthers on deck at noon, and they just proved they can punch hard, blasting Georgia Tech after a 28-0 opening blitz.

If Miami survives that test, its No. 12 spot keeps it in the mix for a top-10 jump. But they’ll need ACC chaos to crack the championship scene. Will a miracle favor them?