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Marco Rubio jokes Donald Trump will have to take over CFP committee if Miami is left out

Danby: Daniel Hager12/02/25DanielHagerOn3

During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that President Donald Trump would have to ‘take over the College Football Playoff committee’ if 10-2 Miami is left out.

“I close with this, and I know I’m last so I want it to be fast,” Rubio said. “I do want to say this is the most wonderful, magical time of the year. By that, I’m referring to the College Football Playoff.

“I just want to say, I’m a Florida Gator, but if the University of Miami gets screwed out of the College Football Playoff after going 10-2 and beating Notre Dame, the whole thing needs to get scrapped. You’re (referring to Donald Trump) gonna have to step in and take over it next year.”

Heading into Conference Championship weekend, both No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 12 Miami sit at 10-2. The Fighting Irish opened the season with back-to-back losses, but rattled off 10 consecutive wins to end the season. One of those season-opening losses came to Miami 27-24 in Hard Rock Stadium. Notre Dame‘s only other loss came at home to now-No. 3 ranked Texas A&M 41-40.

The Hurricanes opened their season with an unblemished 5-0, but suffered losses to Louisville and SMU in two of their next three games. Much like Notre Dame, they also finished the season strong with four consecutive wins. Their two conference losses however were enough to keep Miami out of the ACC Championship Game in favor of Duke and No. 18 Virginia.

Paul Finebaum claims head-to-head matchup should matter

Although the ‘Canes own the head-to-head victory, the CFP selection committee has been consistent with its choice to keep them behind Notre Dame. SEC Network host Paul Finebaum has thrown his two cents into the matter, however, and is of the belief the committee should to honor the head-to-head matchup before the playoffs are set. 

“I’m going to sound like a broken record, but maybe I’m old enough to believe that head-to-head should matter,” Finebaum said. “Notre Dame versus Miami — does anyone remember that game? I do. It was the last Sunday night in August, and I vaguely remember Miami beating Notre Dame, but apparently everyone on this committee and everyone that covers college football has conveniently forgotten that.

“Now, I know I’ll be wrong here, because Notre Dame will be ranked ahead of Miami. But I’m standing with the ‘Canes.”

Freeman and Cristobal stake their claims for CFP bids

After Miami (Pittsburgh) and Notre Dame (Stanford)’s respective Week 14 matchups, both program’s head coaches touted their case to be ranked ahead of the other. ‘Canes coach Mario Cristobal said emphatically that Miami is a playoff team. He also said that the best part about football is that ‘you get to settle it on the field where head-to-head is always the number one criteria regarding anything athletics and football.’

On the other hand, Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman asked after Notre Dame beat Stanford late on Saturday night, “Who are the best teams now?” Not during Week 1, but now, he said. 

Both Cristobal and Freeman are selling two different perspectives on the matter. What’s clear, however, is that the playoff committee has chosen to take Notre Dame’s over Miami’s by rankings the Irish several spots ahead of the ‘Canes. The second-to-last College Football Playoff Rankings will be released Tuesday night, where the Irish will likely still be ranked ahead of Miami.