When the College Football Playoff committee revealed their latest rankings on Tuesday, Miami landed in the No. 12 spot with Alabama one spot ahead of it.
The positioning likely means the Hurricanes will miss the 12-team CFP barring any reconsideration after conference championships this weekend. Miami star quarterback Cam Ward was not shy about his feelings about the committee's decision.
"I mean at the end of the day them boys who in that committee, I really doubt they watch tape or not," Ward said on the ACC Network on Wednesday (h/t On3's Thomas Goldkamp). "I mean you can't, I mean, we're a 10-2 team. Not saying Alabama's not a good team, which they are, but let's talk about them points. That's probably the biggest factor, I believe."
Ward pointed to Miami's offensive numbers while also arguing they're a balanced team.
"We've got a top 25 defense, which is actually one of the best defenses in the country," Ward said. "So both sides of the ball we're one of the best teams in the country. You talk about an offense who puts points on the board left and right, whether it's passing, whether it's throwing. We've got two great running backs in the backfield in Dame (Martinez) and Mark (Fletcher), so it's hard to leave that out."
He also took to social media to voice his frustration.
Ward and the Hurricanes were well on their way to reaching the College Football Playoff until November when they faced an upset loss to Georgia Tech. Their hopes of reaching the Playoff and the ACC Championship took a hit in their season finale when they fell to Syracuse.
Still, with two losses, it wasn't inconceivable for Miami to be included in the 12-team field. Three teams included in the top 11 have two losses and one team, Alabama, has three.
The committee ultimately favored the Crimson Tide over the Hurricanes, though, and now they can only hope something changes in their favor as they sit idly over the weekend.
Alabama has losses to unranked Vanderbilt, No. 7 Tennessee and unranked Oklahoma this year. The Tide's losses, in the committee's eyes, are outweighed by their wins as Alabama has taken down No. 5 Georgia, No. 14 South Carolina, No. 19 Missouri and others.
On the contrary, Miami has not beaten any team currently ranked inside the top 25. It's best wins would likely be considered by most to be its 41-17 rout against Florida in Week 1 and a 52-45 win over Louisville.
Ward is not the first person to voice his frustration with the committee following Tuesday's ranking reveal. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement that he was "incredibly shocked and disappointed" by the decision to keep Miami out and said the Canes "absolutely deserves better from the committee."
On Saturday, SMU and Clemson will play for the ACC championship and an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff. The winner of that game will likely be the conference's only team included in the new 12-team field. The SEC and Big Ten, as the rankings currently stand, will have eight teams combined in the Playoff.
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