Miami still No. 10 in College Football Playoff rankings, maintains New Year’s Six path
The Miami Hurricanes didn’t budge in the newest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, but their path to a major bowl is still the same.
The Hurricanes (7-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) are still No. 10 of 25 teams ranked in the second of five weekly 2020 CFP rankings, which ultimately determine the four teams in the College Football Playoff semifinals that send the two winners to the National Championship on Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium.
The top four teams in this week’s edition: No. 1 Alabama (8-0), No. 2 Notre Dame (9-0), No. 3 Clemson (8-1) and No. 4 Ohio State (4-0).
The remaining top 10 are No. 5 Texas A&M (6-1), No. 6 Florida (7-1), No. 7 Cincinnati (8-0), No. 8 Georgia (6-2), No. 9 Iowa State (7-2) and Miami.
The Hurricanes travel to Duke (2-7, 1-7) on Saturday for an 8 p.m. kickoff and need to win their remaining games to virtually be assured of qualifying for a New Year’s Six bowl game, possibly the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 2 at Hard Rock.
Miami, scheduled to play at home against North Carolina (6-3, 6-3) on Dec. 12 and conclude the regular season at home against Georgia Tech (3-5, 3-4) on Dec. 19, learned Tuesday evening before ESPN released the CFP rankings that Notre Dame, per a decision by the ACC, has clinched one of the spots in the ACC Football Championship Game on Dec. 19.
The Canes, however, could still meet the Irish in the ACC title game should they defeat Duke and UNC and should Clemson, which lost to Notre Dame earlier this season, lose at Virginia Tech (4-5, 4-4) on Saturday night. If that happened, Miami would obviously not play Georgia Tech, as the ACC title game in Charlotte, North Carolina, is Dec. 19.
“Following a recommendation from the conference Athletic Director Football Subcommittee, the league’s athletic directors have voted to preserve the integrity of the ACC Football Championship Game by evaluating each of the three teams in contention (Clemson, Miami and Notre Dame) based on a nine-game conference schedule,’’ the ACC announced in a release Tuesday. “As a result, Clemson and Notre Dame will conclude the regular season this weekend.
“Should a game(s) involving Clemson, Miami or Notre Dame not be played this weekend, the ACC has the option to reschedule games on Dec. 12 as needed. Based on the current standings and results to date, Notre Dame holds all tiebreakers and has therefore secured a berth in the ACC Football Championship Game.”
More ACC COVID-19 news
In more ACC news, the league also announced Tuesday that its medical advisory group adjusted protocol requirements for coronavirus testing of football players, changing the third and final test of the week to Thursday instead of Friday. In doing so, it assures teams that they don’t have to leave for their road-game flights on Friday uncertain if a traveling player or coach has tested positive.
The previous situation had become extremely controversial after Clemson recently traveled to Florida State with a backup offensive lineman it learned after arriving had tested positive for COVID-19. FSU, now experiencing its own outbreak unrelated to Clemson, refused to play the game.
“Each team will be required to have a PCR test administered on Thursday with a result prior to the visiting team traveling to the game locale,’’ the ACC release said. “The Chief Medical Officers from each team will confirm results and attest that there is every expectation that the game will be played.
“While the Medical Advisory Group has not identified evidence of virus transmission during competition, this adjustment will mitigate the chances of unnecessary interaction between team members and outside individuals that are inevitable during travel.”
On Monday, before the ACC announced the new protocols, the Miami Herald asked UM coach Manny Diaz if the Hurricanes, in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak, wait until they learn the test results before leaving for road trips.
“I think if you’re looking at some of the things that happened in our league, that’s not really preventable,’’ Diaz said. “You can’t test on Friday and really get the results back in time to wait to hold the airplane to be able to go. It’s just not feasible.
“In our league, all the testing the day before the game is done through a third party that’s all done at one lab. From Virginia Tech we had the results because it was a noon game [and] we had them around 8:30 the night before kickoff. But most of the time they don’t come in until overnight from Friday to Saturday.
“This is not a football problem. This is just a medical issue. It’s unfortunate but it’s the rules we all agreed on if we’re going to play football in 2020. It stinks but it is what it is.’’
Obviously, the ACC changed the rules.
