In the last two weeks of the regular season, No. 13 Miami isn’t just battling opponents. It’s battling the skewed ranking math of the CFP committee. Miami’s 34-17 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday should have earned them a spot in the playoffs. However, Miami was forced to take late drives for “style points,” as their playoff chance relied completely on Notre Dame’s game, making Mario Cristobal raise questions about the CFP committee’s ranking logic.

While Cristobal was asked if they were chasing “style points,” the coach took a sweep against the CFP committee for placing Notre Dame over them, despite a head-to-head win.

“We’re just playing ball. We’re not slowing down,” Mario Cristobal said. “Some people call it style points and all that other stuff. We’re just playing ball and trying to make our team better and stay aggressive. When we call it aggressive, our players play aggressively.”

Entering Week 13, Miami (8-2) is ranked No.13, 4 spots behind No. 9 Notre Dame (8-2). This kept them in a position where only one team could qualify. While Notre Dame was going for a blowout 70-7 win against Syracuse, Cristobal was forced to overcome a less-than-impressive 27-17 lead to a 34-17 win through a last-second touchdown.

Miami coach then vented his frustrations on the CFP committee, on how they placed Miami, four spots behind Notre Dame, even though they defeated the Irish in a Week 1 matchup.

“And I heard what you said, but I think it’s really important to state: I think it goes for anyone who’s ever played the game or coached the game, because people throw around the word eye test. Well, how about the field test? Right? Where head-to-head matters. Things like that. So that’s what football’s always been about: on the field, getting it, finding a way to get it done.”

While the path to the playoffs remains uncertain for Miami, only a championship game or a large voting bid can save their playoff hopes. With a 9-2 win, the championship game seems unlikely, which further reduces their playoff hopes.

CFP chair Hunter Yurachek answers the Miami-Notre Dame situation

Thankfully, we got the answer to Mario Cristobal’s claim prior from the CFP chair Hunter Yurachek. On Nov 18, while revealing the Week 13 CFP ranking on ESPN, Rece Davis asked Hunter Yurachek about the whole Notre Dame-Miami comparison. He asked how they compare both teams and placed them in different rankings. To which Yuracheck said that they evaluated each other’s loss, instead of comparing.

“We really compare the losses of those two teams,” Yurachek said. “We really haven’t compared those two teams. They haven’t been in similar comparative pools to date. But Miami is creeping up into that range, where they will be compared to Notre Dame, if something happens above them.”

With that being said, Miami’s loss to non-ranking teams SMU and Louisville turned costly, compared to Notre Dame’s ranked team loss to Miami and Texas A&M. With just one week left in the regular season for Miami and Notre Dame, they definitely need to score those style points, with the Hurricanes visiting Pittsburgh next Saturday while the Fighting Irish head west to face Stanford.

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