Joey Galloway criticizes CFP committee for flipping Miami, Notre Dame in final rankings

Miami is in, and Notre Dame‘s out. The Hurricanes are heading to the College Football Playoff as the No. 10 seed after jumping Notre Dame in the Sunday’s bracket reveal.

The Fighting Irish had been ahead of Miami since the CFP rankings began this season. This was despite the Hurricanes holding a head-to-head win over Notre Dame this season. ESPN’s Joey Galloway, who was present on the panel on, questioned the committee’s decision to flip the two teams despite both being idle during conference championship week.

“This is very strange to me. And again, Rece, you mentioned earlier that they hadn’t compared these two teams. Well, why not? They should have absolutely compared these two teams,” Galloway said. “We had a ranking come out on Tuesday. If they were going to flip these two teams that did not play, they should have done it on Tuesday.

“Now, this Miami team, the way they’re playing the last few games, they are a very good football team. They have have a chance to win, just like any other team. But it is strange to me that you have two teams that were sitting on the couch yesterday that somehow flipped in their rankings.”

The debate over where to rank Notre Dame and Miami was the biggest question heading into the playoffs. Despite Miami’s 27-24 win over the Irish during the season opener on Aug. 31, Notre Dame was ranked two spots ahead of the Hurricanes during last week’s rankings reveal.

Until Sunday, the committee appeared to be looking at the full body of work for both teams to justify their rankings. While Notre Dame lost its first two games of the season against Miami, and then to Texas A&M, the Irish went on to win its last 10 games of the season. That included wins over ranked USC and Pitt teams.

For Miami, the Mario Cristobal’s squad began the season 5-0 before finishing the back-half of their schedule 5-2. Those pair of losses could be damning for Miami, as they lost to an unranked Louisville team at home and in overtime vs. SMU on the road over a three-week span. They’ve also won four-straight games, all of which have been won by multiple scores. Both teams finished the regular season 10-2.

Now, the Hurricanes will move forward with their College Football Playoff matchup. They’ll travel to College Station to play 7-seed Texas A&M on the road. The winner plays Ohio State in the quarterfinals.