Kirk Herbstreit reveals path for Miami to jump Notre Dame, make College Football Playoff

Kirk Herbstreit found a way, in his mind, for Miami to jump Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff rankings, despite both being idle this week. The Hurricanes missed out on the ACC Championship Game due to tiebreakers and the Irish do not belong to a conference.

As it stands now, Notre Dame is ranked No. 10 and Miami is No. 12, with the latter being on the outside looking in.

So how does Miami move up? Well that could be in the hands of Texas Tech and BYU, per Herbstreit.

“If you were to lose the second time, the first time was pretty much a dominant performance by the Red Raiders. If that were to happen again, I think BYU would go down, and I think Miami would go up, and I think Miami and Notre Dame, more than likely, are going to be right next to each other,” Herbstreit said on Nonstop. “That’s what we call a cluster, and that’s when you would see Miami’s head to head, boom, push them up and over Notre Dame. That was the biggest thing that I took away from that.”

The head to head of Miami over Notre Dame has been the biggest gripe from Hurricane fans. But if BYU loses a second game to Texas Tech, despite falling to 11-2 compared to Miami’s 10-2, Herbstreit said that’ll move Miami up a spot, right next to Notre Dame.

So, if that happens, you can finally compare Notre Dame and Miami head to head and that’s where the Hurricanes’ early season win comes in. From there, Miami moves up more than one spot and gets into the College Football Playoff.

So if Hurricane fans want a shot, you better root for Texas Tech to win the Big 12 title game. Notre Dame is by no means safe now.

“I feel strongly about our case,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal told On3. “It’s not because we are creating narrative. We are presenting facts. We played each other. We played the same teams. And we did a better job. Now we have to respectfully present the information. I don’t want to come across a certain way, but … “That’s a real deal playoff team that not only qualifies for the playoff, but is built to make a legitimate run at the whole thing.

“Look at Miami, top to bottom, examine the metrics, examine the wins and losses and how they were played out. We trust that when all the facts are laid out and everything is set on the table, that head-to-head will come into play. That’s what this sport has always been founded on.”