Why Miami Still Doesn’t Deserve to Pass Notre Dame in the CFP Rankings

Saturday was a day when seemingly nothing on the outside went right for Notre Dame football.

Sure, Notre Dame jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and was in control of Stanford from jump, but the Fighting Irish didn't get much help from the rest of the college football world in regards to the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State finally beat up Michigan early in the day, and that put an end to the Wolverines CFP hopes, as they dropped to 9-3. However, the rest of the day went against Notre Dame's best interest.

Miami Beats Up Pittsburgh, Moves to 10-2

The most intriguing of the out-of-town games regarding Notre Dame was when Miami went into Pittsburgh and rolled the Panthers, 38-7. That puts Miami at 10-2 to finish the regular season, while the Hurricanes also have a Week 1 win over Notre Dame.

Many national talking heads want that Week 1 game to be the determining factor in deciding who gets into the playoff between Miami and Notre Dame.

It's a plenty logical thought, but the committee has already spoken on comparing the two squads.

CFP Committee on Notre Dame, Miami Rankings

The latest CFP rankings were released this past Tuesday with Notre Dame checking in at No. 9 and Miami at No. 12.

When asked about why Notre Dame ranks ahead of Miami despite sharing the same record, CFP executive director had the following to say:

And as Notre Dame and Miami -- of course you've got the head-to-head but that's only one data point.

The committee has felt like, as you watched Notre Dame on film, watched their games throughout year, that they have been consistent, even in the early-season games that they lost by three in Miami and by one point to Texas A&M.

Miami is a team that really appears -- looks like the Miami team that started 5-0 and what they have been able to do over the last three weeks in winning those three games and looking really good on the offensive side of the ball.

And so we compare a number of things, when we're looking at teams that are closely ranked together. And so you've got some teams that between Miami and Notre Dame, such as an Alabama, such as a BYU, that we're also comparing Miami to.

Nothing Has Changed with Either Team, So Rankings Shouldn't Either

I'm not taking anything away from Miami and what they've done the last few weeks. The Hurricanes looked great in destroying Pittsburgh, easily disposing of Virginia Tech, and NC State in the last three weeks.

But it didn't do anything that Notre Dame didn't already do in that time.

Notre Dame already routed NC State and Pittsburgh this season, something Miami did in recent weeks. If the committee has been so sold that Notre Dame was previously ranked ahead of Miami, then what has changed in the last week or two?

It's not like Notre Dame and Miami are checking in right next to each other in the rankings. Notre Dame checked in ninth this past week, while Miami checked in 12th.

Do you think Miami disposing of a soon-to-be unranked Pittsburgh team is enough not just to jump Notre Dame, but to also jump BYU and Alabama who are ranked between the two teams?

If head-to-head wasn't enough to place Miami ahead of Notre Dame in previous weeks, then Miami routing Pittsburgh while the Fighting Irish easily got by Stanford should mean nothing changes.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

Should head-to-head matter? Obviously, but so should other games.

In 1993, Notre Dame beat Florida State on the field, but the one-loss Irish were passed by the Seminoles in the final poll because it had the worst loss of the two teams, a home one to a ranked Boston College squad.

Bad losses have long been punished in college football. Miami lost to two teams that finished a combined 16-8, both of which will finish unranked.

Head-to-head matters, but so does every game.

The committee has already spoken on it all mattering, not just the head-to-head result, and nothing that happened the final week of the regular season should change what the committee has told us regarding the Notre Dame and Miami over the past month.