Heather Dinich makes case for Miami to leap up in rankings after win vs. Notre Dame

All eyes were on Hard Rock Stadium for an AP Top 10 matchup between the Miami Hurricanes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday night. There, the two teams put on a show, with the Irish storming all the way back from down two scores to tie it before the Hurricanes pulled out a late win.

Now, the dust is starting to settle on the game, and there’s time to reflect on it. For ESPN’s Heather Dinich, it was a win that is going to solidify Miami moving forward. As she explained on Get Up on Monday morning, the win should move Miami up to No. 3 in the polls and solidify them as a College Football Playoff contender.

“Miami should be No. 3 in the country,” Heather Dinich said. “Because they got one of the best non-conference wins of Week 1 and, probably, the entire season. This is the kind of win that is going to resonate with the College Football Playoff selection committee through selection day.”

Going into the season, Miami was ranked 10th in the Preseason AP Poll. They just added a win over the No. 6-ranked team in the country. That comes in a Week 1 where, along with the Irish going down, three other teams ranked ahead of the Hurricanes, Texas, Clemson, and Alabama, also fell. So, regardless of how high Miami moves up, there should be a shuffle among those top teams.

Perhaps more importantly, long term, Dinich also believes this win over Notre Dame is going to be massive for Miami’s Playoff hopes. Not only does it give them a head-to-head win over another team who could be competing for an at-large bid, but it also rounds out their resume for seeding purposes.

“And it’s a head-to-head tiebreaker that they’ll own as long as their records are comparable. Miami, right now, looks like it could win the ACC,” Dinich said. “But if it doesn’t and it’s fighting for an at-large bid, this will separate them from other CFP contenders that didn’t play a strong non-conference schedule. Yeah, strength of schedule still matters.”

Miami QB Carson Beck tears up describing what win over Notre Dame means

Miami was led in its win over Notre Dame by transfer quarterback Carson Beck. It’s been a long journey from the end of last season, recovering from an arm injury and transferring. Now, with the win, it was emotionally worth it for the veteran quarterback.

“Oh man, sh*t,” Beck said as tears began to well up in his eyes. “The past eight months has been so hard. I’m just so blessed to be out here to have an opportunity to play again. I love these guys. I’m so proud of the way we played. We played so hard. In the face of adversity, we got it done when we needed to. I’m just so blessed and so thankful to have this opportunity to play the game I love.”

It’s a long season to go from here. First things first, Miami will turn its attention to Bethune-Cookman next week.