Joey Galloway picks Miami as the first-round team most likely to go on run in College Football Playoff

ESPN’s Joey Galloway is rolling with Miami to make a run in the College Football Playoff. When asked which team has the best chance to make a run to the semifinals or finals from the first round, he gave the nod to the Hurricanes.

Miami was on the outside looking in when it came to the College Football Playoff going into Sunday. But after the conference championship games, BYU shifted down, Miami jumped them and eventually Notre Dame due to the head to head and received the final at-large bid.

Now after a second straight 10-2 regular season, the Hurricanes can lay claim to a CFP bid. They’ll hit the road to play Texas A&M in the first round, with the winner playing Ohio State in the quarterfinals.

“I’m gonna go with Miami as crazy as that sounds,” Galloway said on the CFP reveal show. “I think Miami is a team that has a chip on its shoulder now, just because of the process. I think they look like a pretty good team.”

Should Miami, or Texas A&M for that matter as Greg McElroy pointed out, wins in the first round and beats Ohio State, they might have a good matchup in the semifinals. On that side of the bracket, it’d be one of No. 3 Georgia, No. 6 Ole Miss or No. 11 Tulane.

“What’s funny is, I think their opponent, A&M, has a really high chance as well,” McElroy said. “I mean, both those teams have a lot of firepower, a lot of weaponry, really good along both lines of scrimmage. You got to win from the inside out in the college football playoff. Great O line, great D line. Both those teams check both boxes.”

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal made a big case for his team to get in this year. It finally paid off and AD Dan Radkovich released a statement after it was made official.

“We are excited to be making our first appearance in the College Football Playoff,” Radakovich said. “Congratulations to Mario Cristobal, our coaching staff and our student-athletes on a terrific regular season that was justly rewarded by the CFP Committee. We look forward to facing Texas A&M in the opening round and I know Miami fans will make their presence felt in College Station.”

Miami will take on Texas A&M on December 20th at 12:00 p.m. ET. The winner plays Ohio State on December 31st at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Cotton Bowl.