Paul Finebaum predicts Miami is 'back' this season after past false alarms

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is convinced that Miami is back, for real this time! The Hurricanes were ranked No. 2 in the latest AP Poll, the highest since they were No. 2 back in 2017.

With the way Miami is playing right now, it seems like this team could rip off an undefeated regular season and fight for the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Finebaum previously praised Miami’s efforts eight years ago, even sporting a turnover chain on live television, but was burnt by the Hurricanes.

At 10-0 in 2017, Miami was ranked No. 2 but immediately lost to Pitt, falling to No. 7. The next week, the Hurricanes lost to No. 1 Clemson 38-3 in the ACC Championship and missed out on the College Football Playoff. Losing to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl was the icing on the cake.

“They’re back this time Matt,” Finebaum told SportsCenter’s Matt Barrie. “That was a false alarm (in 2017), just like many of the other 1000s of false alarms I’ve uttered with you on Sunday morning. But this feels real. Carson Beck didn’t even play an A-game on Saturday night against Florida, and they still managed to win convincingly. So yes, I’m going to go out and say it again. No turnover chain today, no drama. But ‘The U’ is back.”

Miami will have a top 10 showdown against Florida State on the road to kickoff October. For now, it’s a bye week for rest, recovery and preparation, according to Mario Cristobal. No other nonsense.

“I’m the one saying `block out the noise,’ try to keep it business-like,” Cristobal said. “This stays about team, it’s team first and nothing can get in the way of the team. Nothing … It’s a full throttle week, we all recognize what we want to accomplish. We have a lot of work to do.”

Cristobal noted that this is the real season for Miami. With ACC play being a massive indicator of where this team can do this year, it’ll start with the Seminoles.

“There’s a lot of bad blood, intensity behind this thing,” Cristobal said Monday morning on WQAM. “It’s a great start in our out of conference, now the real season starts.”

Miami and Florida State will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 4th. As Finebaum noted before, perhaps this team is truly back and there will be no more false alarms!