Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway weigh in on CFP debate between Miami, Notre Dame

In the latest College Football Playoff rankings, Notre Dame landed at No. 9 while Miami trailed four spots behind at No. 13. Miami fans didn’t hesitate to criticize the rankings, pointing out that the Hurricanes defeated the Fighting Irish in Week 1. On the Nonstop Podcast, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway weighed in on the controversial debate.

“At what point does head to head not matter?” Herbstreit said. “If Miami were 6-6 and they beat Notre Dame, should they still be in over Notre Dame because they beat them head-to-head? Obviously, the answer is no. They’re 7-5, should they be? Then, 8-4? 9-3? When do you feel that the head-to-head should not matter?

“There needs to be a penalty for losing two games and self-destructing in a couple of those games against quality opponents. But, when you’re weighing this as a committee, I think the optics of how they lost those two games is hard to ignore.”

Notre Dame and Miami are each 9-2 this season. However, Notre Dame’s two losses were its first two games of the season. Meanwhile, both of the Hurricanes’ losses have come in conference play.

Some analysts have used this fact to argue that Miami has become worse as the season has progressed, while Notre Dame has improved. After all, as Herbstreit mentioned, the Hurricanes’ two losses this season were far from inspiring.

On Oct. 17, Miami lost 24-21 to Louisville. In the loss, Miami quarterback Carson Beck threw four interceptions, including one on the Hurricanes’ final drive of the game.

Just two weeks later, Miami fell 26-20 to SMU in overtime. Once again, Miami wilted under the spotlight, committing 12 penalties and two turnovers. Louisville is currently unranked and SMU is ranked No. 25.

In contrast, Notre Dame’s other loss this season was against Texas A&M, which is currently ranked No. 3. Joey Galloway believes the CFP selection committee needs to evaluate the teams based on how good they currently are.

“In the first two weeks of the season, Miami was a better football team than Notre Dame. There’s no question they were better,” Galloway said. “They beat them. They looked better. They played better. Carson Beck was on fire earlier. That doesn’t carry you through the season.

“… You’re not being honest with yourself if you can’t look at this Notre Dame team and say that team is better now than they were when we beat them in Week 1. And, we, the Miami Hurricanes, aren’t quite playing as well as we did early in the season.”