Josh Pate: CFP selection committee pandered to ACC with Miami selection

College football analyst Josh Pate claimed the CFP selection committee pandered, consciously or subconsciously, to Miami in the bracket reveal. Miami was on the outside looking in, behind a Notre Dame they already beat this year.

But both teams were idle and the committee decided the final week was the week to use the head to head metric between those two, based on shifting BYU down. With that, Miami got the final at-large bid over the Irish.

“Yes, but I know that the pushback will be from the committee, and I understand what the talking point was from them. Yes. I believe that to be true,” Pate said of the committee panicking and making sure an ACC team didn’t get left out on Get Up. “It doesn’t even have to be stated. No one in the room has to state it. I think in the subconscious of anybody who is looking at the major college football landscape, the knowledge that you’re going to put two G5 teams in while simultaneously looking in the eyes of a legitimate power for conference and saying, ‘No, you’re out,’ I don’t think that that was going to be palatable …

“I also know that I believe in my heart of hearts, yes, that factored in. That’s why I told you that last Wednesday, if Duke were to win the ACC that I thought was Miami’s best shot, along with (BYU) losing, not just BYU losing as concisely as possible.”

Miami in CFP whether you like it or not

Duke ended up winning the ACC and finished 8-5, knocking Virginia out of the playoff race. But they were unranked coming in, so finishing as the fifth highest ranked conference champion over James Madison seemed very unlikely. Whether or not Miami was the product of giving the ACC a bid is anyone’s guess, but they are in.

“All systems go, full throttle for this opportunity against an excellent Texas A&M team,” head coach Mario Cristobal said. “Another monster step for us, significant step for us and it’s real. To see the Miami logo, The U beside the CFP logo, that hit strong. We had about three minutes of some high fives, really just strong energy and juice. Then right to film work … 

“They are an excellent football team, don’t have any weakness. They are big, fast, explosive, have playmakers all over the field. They do some incredible work on third down. They play with power up front, knock people around. The perimeter they hurt you on both sides. They can play man, play zone. On the offensive side they have so many guys that can run by you, through you. A team that is a very complete team and one we are looking forward to playing.”