What College Football Playoff fans (probably) think of new rankings
After the last CFP rankings before the field is set, Before The Snap shares a joking take on the latest rankings from the fans’ perspective.
The Miami Hurricanes aren’t making it to the College Football Playoff. How?
Miami lost to Syracuse on Saturday to miss out on the ACC championship game. The loss hurt in more ways than one, as now the Hurricanes are looking up at Alabama in the latest CFP rankings, even though the ‘Canes have two losses while the Crimson Tide have three.
“Winning 10 games is exponentially harder than winning nine,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said on The Audible podcast. “This whole, ‘This conference is better than that conference,’ some of the teams are, but not all the teams are. Never once were we in a blowout loss against a .500 team.”
Yes, Alabama did lose bad to a .500 team, and just a few weeks ago. But there are good reasons why Miami will be preparing for a bowl game instead of waiting to hear its place in the CFP bracket on Selection Sunday. We stated the case for Miami; now here’s the rebuttal.
Miami fell to No. 12 in Tuesday’s CFP rankings update, and because the Big 12 champion (either No. 15 Arizona State or No. 16 Iowa State) must be included in the 12-team field, the Hurricanes are on the outside looking in. Without another game before the final bracket is unveiled, Miami won’t be able to earn their way back into the mix.
Miami been in the CFP field since the rankings made their debut Nov. 5. Meanwhile, Alabama fell out of the field two weeks ago. So how did the Crimson Tide leapfrog the Hurricanes to still have a shot at the playoff?
Miami was looking good all season despite a relatively weak strength of schedule because they did the most important thing: win. The Hurricanes’ 9-0 start included some near slip-ups. They had a Hail Mary overturned against Virginia Tech. They rallied from 25 down to beat Cal. The Duke and Wake Forest wins were closer than the final score would indicate.
UM couldn’t flirt with disaster all season, and its two losses came in November, the worst possible time because of the flaws of recent memory. Georgia Tech gave rival Georgia a run for their money and had the 14th toughest schedule, but they did finish 7-5. The Yellow Jackets had a middle-of-the-road defense (ninth in the ACC, a shade worse than Miami’s) but held Cam Ward and the No. 1 offense in the nation to 23 points.
Losing to 9-3 Syracuse is more defensible, but it really didn’t help the narrative around the defense. Speaking of which …
The Hurricanes have a host of NFL talent on defense, leading with star pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr. But since the start of conference play, they have struggled to let Cam Ward and the No. 1 offense in the nation run away with games. Even worse, they seemed incapable of adjusting throughout the season to limit the damage.
Louisville, Virginia Tech and Cal had their third-highest output of the season in their losses to Miami. Syracuse and Duke put up their second-most points of the season against the ‘Canes. That’s more than half of their conference schedule. Who knows how much SMU and Clemson (the No. 5 and 14 scoring offenses in the country, respectively) would have hung up on UM in a hypothetical ACC championship game?
In the four games mentioned above that resulted in Miami wins, Ward had some of his biggest games of his Heisman-caliber season: He has 105 of 164 (64%) for 1,499 yards and 15 touchdowns against just four interceptions in those shootout wins. When he was merely good (50 of 75 for 697 yards and five TDs), it wasn’t enough.
The SEC is regarded as the best conference in college football, and for the most part, it lives up to that hype. But aside from the extra loss, the Crimson Tide have a huge blemish against them: their 24-3 loss at 6-6 Oklahoma on Nov. 23. The Sooners weren’t competitive in most of their conference schedule this year, and they struggled to beat a terrible Houston team early in the season.
But playing in the SEC gave Alabama plenty of opportunities to prove its mettle. Its signature win over Georgia and the narrow victory over South Carolina stand out, but so do the combined 76-13 shellackings the Crimson Tide put on Missouri and LSU. Showing out against so-so teams made it easier for the CFP committee to overlook that Oklahoma slip-up. Bama also lost at CFP shoo-in Tennessee by only a touchdown, and losing at Vanderbilt didn’t look as bad after Texas nearly met the same fate.
Miami handily beat its only SEC opponent this season, winning 41-17 to open the season at Florida. But that was when the Gators were starting Graham Mertz at quarterback: Freshman star DJ Lagway made his debut well after the game was decided. The Hurricanes didn’t have the high-ranking ACC teams (SMU and Clemson) on their schedule, and they lost to the only other team in the current CFP rankings (Syracuse). That’s not Miami’s fault, but it also doesn’t help their case.
The final College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed starting at noon on Sunday, Dec. 8.
The College Football Playoff bracket will be revealed on ESPN. Streaming options include ESPN+ and Fubo.
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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to South Florida.
On Monday, the grand opening of the official World Cup Store in Miami Beach was held.
Representatives from FIFA joined Miami Beach city officials, and reps from the Miami Host Committee were also there for the ribbon-cutting event.
Local 10’s Kacy Hintz joined the fun, and her full report can be seen at the top of this page.
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Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.
The Miami Hurricanes have become a pain for the Oregon Ducks on the recruiting trail as of late. Former Oregon coach Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes have stolen another recruit from Dan Lanning’s Ducks as both teams enter the 2026 college football season as national championship contenders.
2027 four-star cornerback Ai’King Hall, originally a Ducks commit, flipped his commitment to Miami on Sunday afternoon. Hall is rated as the No. 73 overall player nationally and the No. 9-ranked cornerback, per 247Sports. Hall was committed to the Ducks since April 6 before flipping his commitment to the Hurricanes.
In addition to flipping Hall, Miami also poached former Georgia five-star cornerback Donte Wright, whom the Ducks were pushing hard to flip. Wright committed to Miami over Oregon on May 9 and is a big loss for the Ducks, even more so than Hall, as he is among the top-ranked players in the 2027 recruiting class.
Per 247Sports, Wright is ranked as the No. 9 overall player nationally in the 2027 class and No. 1 in California. Wright is expected to be a key contributor on defense and for Cristobal’s effort to lead Miami to their first national championship since 2001.
This past season, the Hurricanes fell 27-21 to the Indiana Hoosiers in the national championship. Despite the loss, Miami is expected to be one of the top college football contenders in the future, along with Oregon.
While this pair of recruits won’t arrive in South Beach until the 2027 season, Miami and Oregon could very well face off in this year’s national championship at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With the losses of both Hall and Wright from Oregon’s 2027 recruiting class, the Ducks now have one cornerback commit for the 2027 cycle, four-star cornerback Josiah Molden, a native of nearby West Linn, Oregon.
Molden has the potential to be a top future talent for the Ducks’ secondary as he is ranked the No. 27 overall cornerback and the No. 1 player in Oregon, per 247Sports. Following the two losses, Oregon’s 2027 recruiting ranking remains inside the top 10, despite Lanning not having a five-star commit for the cycle.
Having both Hall and Wright in Oregon’s secondary would’ve been massive for Oregon’s defense, but for now, Lanning will have to work with what he has, while continuing to pursue other top recruits.
With the loss of Hall, Oregon’s 2027 recruiting ranking dropped slightly to No. 10 overall, per On3 and 247Sports. Before Hall decided to flip his commitment to Miami, the Ducks’ 2027 recruiting ranking was No. 9 overall, per On3 and No. 7 per 247Sports.
Despite the losses, there is still plenty of time for Oregon to improve its 2027 recruiting class ranking, the main focus for the Ducks as of now, with the return of star quarterback Dante Moore, is winning the team’s first national championship in program history.
This is an accomplishment that Oregon fans are desperate for, as Lanning has made an all-out effort for the Ducks to achieve that goal as they enter what some see as a national championship or bust 2026 season.
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Lionel Messi had a goal and assisted on another as Inter Miami won its first game at Nu Stadium, 2-0 over the Portland Timbers on Sunday.
German Berterame also scored for Inter Miami, which had three draws and a loss at its new 26,000-seat stadium before Sunday’s victory.
Messi opened the scoring with his 13th goal of the season in the 31st minute. Luis Suárez sent a pass inside to Telasco Segovia, who flicked a pass on to Messi, who beat Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis from 12 yards.
Inter Miami padded the lead on Berterame’s goal in the 42nd minute. Messi dribbled past two defenders and centered to Berterame, who converted inside the left post.
The Timbers had the first scoring threat when Inter Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair deflected Cole Bassett’s shot from the edge of the large area in the 11th minute.
The familiar singing, cheering, flag waving and drum beating from Inter Miami’s organized supporters’ groups “La Familia” were absent until late in the match. The groups reportedly are upset that the players have not acknowledged their presence in the new stadium and remained silent as a form of protest before they began singing in the 85th minute.
The match was the first between the teams since Portland coach Phil Neville was fired as Inter Miami’s coach in 2023, shortly before Messi started playing for the Herons.
Neville is close friends with Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham and told reporters after the Timbers got to South Florida late last week that he was aware Messi choosing Miami would likely mean a coaching change. The club has had four coaches since, including two interim bosses, all of them from Messi’s native Argentina.
“At the start of the (2023) season, I was under no illusions that probably when/if he came in that I wouldn’t be here, and that’s totally fine,” Neville said, referring to Messi. “I understood football.”
Sunday was also the first Inter Miami match since the team revealed that forward Tadeo Allende had what was described as successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee “to address the discomfort he had been experiencing in recent weeks.” There’s no timetable for his return.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer
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