Locked on Hurricanes host Alex Donno breaks down what needs to happen for the Hurricanes to still have a chance to make the College Football Playoff. Is it likely? No because of a flawed system.
00:00Alex Dono is the host of Locked on Canes and the Locked on ACC podcast as well.
00:05And he hosts the Hurricanes postgame show on this very radio station.
00:09And he's our Canes expert.
00:11So what was your reaction last night?
00:14You're watching the college football playoff committee's decisions, seedings, rankings,
00:20and you see it's going to be a long road to hoe to get into the playoffs.
00:26What was your reaction watching it?
00:27Yeah, I was disappointed, obviously, because if Miami is going to get in, you need to be in the top 10.
00:34Being number 12 is not good enough because there are going to be two auto bids.
00:37They're going to jump over number 11 and number 12.
00:39So disappointment is obvious.
00:41But I was not surprised.
00:44Now, there are still people out there and even the committee chair.
00:49And every time I listen to the committee chair, I feel dumber than before I listen to him speak.
00:53But the committee chair did even, like, give an opening that, hey, you know what?
00:58If Miami and Notre Dame were to find themselves back-to-back and not having teams between them,
01:04they have one team still between them because Notre Dame moved down one spot to number 10.
01:09BYU is at 11.
01:10Miami is number 12.
01:11So he basically says we cannot possibly weigh the head-to-head because there have been teams in between them.
01:18But maybe if they find themselves back-to-back.
01:20So he's kind of leaving the door open.
01:23But, again, I still feel that if they felt that Miami should be ranked in front of Notre Dame,
01:29why are they not ranked in front of Notre Dame now?
01:32That's what I'm wondering about the committee.
01:34Like, if they're going to next week magically decide, you know what, what happened August 31st actually does matter.
01:41What happened between their four common opponents suddenly does matter.
01:45I don't know why they wouldn't do that on Tuesday night, why they would wait until Sunday to do that.
01:50And, Dono, because Notre Dame and UM are playing.
01:54So the thought is how are they going to move anywhere when they're not playing?
01:57But you just said it.
01:58BYU is between them.
01:59So if Texas Tech beats BYU, now the Canes move up and then they're going to jump them again
02:06because he just said that foolishness the other night.
02:08If they're back-to-back, now you go head-to-head.
02:10Like, do you think that, what is it, Alabama, Georgia, or BYU, Texas Tech,
02:14do you think that could vault the Canes into the college football playoffs?
02:18Because rationally it doesn't make sense.
02:21Okay, so with BYU, I think they have a must win on Saturday in their conference championship game
02:28because just the fact that BYU's even ranked this low with only one loss,
02:33the committee does not have any love to BYU.
02:36Like, there are certain programs, Alabama, they're going out of their way to help Bama,
02:41Notre Dame, they're obviously going out of their way to help Notre Dame.
02:43BYU is not going to get any help.
02:45The only way BYU gets in is if they beat Texas Tech.
02:49Texas Tech already blew out BYU this year, and Texas Tech is far better on paper than BYU.
02:54So I think BYU is going to be out.
02:56So your scenario does stand.
02:59Alabama is the other team that has a conference championship game.
03:02Now, even though I think BYU definitely could lose their spot if they lose the conference championship game,
03:07I have my doubts about the Bama situation.
03:10Now, obviously people put their tinfoil hats on and assume the SEC is going to get favorable treatment.
03:16But the situation Bama is in, so this past Saturday, Crowder, Alabama,
03:21they beat 5-7 Auburn by 7 points.
03:25And the committee was so moved by that performance, they decided to move Bama up a spot.
03:31But meanwhile, Miami beat the number 22 team in the country, 38-7 on the road.
03:36They don't move up.
03:36But Bama beats a non-Bull-eligible Auburn team without a coach, and they move up a spot.
03:41So I believe the committee, in my humble opinion, is putting Alabama in a situation where if they lose a close game against Georgia,
03:50which I think is the most likely outcome, I think Georgia probably wins a close one.
03:55I don't think either team is getting blown out.
03:57So I think if Bama loses close, the committee can say, we'll move them down one spot, but they're still in the playoff.
04:03And obviously if Bama wins, they're a lock.
04:06So I think there's a real scenario where BYU drops out.
04:10And then, like you said, Miami would have to hope that if BYU drops out, that Miami and Notre Dame are only separated by the one spot.
04:18And then the committee maybe is actually going to say, yeah, you know what?
04:22We forgot Miami won when they played ahead.
04:25Maybe it's time to jump Miami in front.
04:27So I think that's Miami's only hope.
04:30Dono, what's the end goal here for the Canes after this season?
04:34Because in my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong, what's the point of scheduling Notre Dame?
04:39What's the point of scheduling the University of Florida?
04:42What's the point of having a season where you beat Notre Dame, you beat Florida, you beat USF, you beat FSU,
04:48and the committee still says, well, you're in the ACC, you had two losses,
04:51so we don't really care about what you did on the field anyways.
04:54You're not making the playoffs.
04:55Just schedule Bethune.
04:57Schedule Florida A&M.
04:58Schedule my FIU Panthers.
05:00I don't mean it as a slight.
05:01I'm being honest.
05:01Just what benefit does it give the University of Miami outside of TV exposure
05:07if it's not going to end up resulting in them beating them and getting rewarded for it?
05:13Right.
05:13Exactly.
05:13Because I'll take it one further.
05:16Notre Dame gets more benefit from losing to Miami than Miami got from beating Notre Dame
05:22because the best thing on Notre Dame's resume is their losses.
05:26Oh, they lost to a ranked Miami.
05:29They lost to a ranked Texas A&M.
05:32Never mind the fact that Notre Dame's best win was against a 9-3 USC team,
05:37and they haven't beaten anybody who's currently in the playoff field.
05:39So I'm with you 1,000%.
05:41Like, for whatever reason, Notre Dame gets more out of losing to Miami than Miami gets out of beating them.
05:46And, like, I totally think you're right that this gives you less incentive to schedule great, you know, non-conference opponents.
05:55It doesn't – unfortunately, the situation that the ACC is in is they have a – which, and again, the ACC commissioner is – he's a bum.
06:05But Jim Phillips now has requirements, since Notre Dame has a scheduling agreement with the ACC, you're kind of locked into playing them.
06:14And then I think also Miami probably feels like if we go and cancel the game, then, like, we look soft.
06:20Like, I don't know if that comes into Dan Radakovic's decision-making or not.
06:24But you also mentioned Solana.
06:26There is an obvious benefit to playing Notre Dame, and that's – you know, you know the TV ratings are going to be through the roof.
06:32I think over 10 million people watched Miami versus Notre Dame on August 31st.
06:37So, I mean, you have to kind of decide, is the extra TV money worth potentially getting screwed out of the playoff if you beat that team?
06:44I don't know.
06:46Where do you – where do you fall on this?
06:49If the Canes don't make the playoffs, Dono, which is your approach?
06:54Hey, don't lose two games that you should win.
06:57So, ultimately, it's Mario's fault.
06:59If you handle your business against Louisville and SMU like you should, then you wouldn't be in this situation.
07:05Or do you take the track of, hey, you went 10-2.
07:09You beat some class opponents like Solana just laid out for you.
07:13You had a couple stumbles during the season, but most teams do.
07:17So, great season, Mario.
07:18Great season, Canes.
07:20You got ripped off by the committee.
07:22I lean more to great season, and this is not to completely excuse those losses, but I think you have to lean more to great season for a couple of different reasons.
07:35Miami killed – at least, you know, this year they killed the narrative of, hey, this team, once they lose, they never bounce back or they can't win in November, right?
07:44They ended November with four dominant wins, including a road game against Pittsburgh.
07:50A lot of Miami fans didn't think the Canes were going to win that game.
07:52I talked to Hurricanes fans every single day, and my comment section was like, it's cold.
07:57We're going to lose.
07:58It's Mario in November.
07:59We have no chance.
08:00And they go out there and win that game.
08:02And this is consecutive 10-win seasons now, Hawk.
08:06First time Miami has done that in consecutive seasons in over 20 years, 2002 and 2003.
08:12So, I do lean to, like, this is a really good season.
08:16And also, like, this 10-2, I think this 10-2 was even better than last year's 10-2 because Miami had a tougher schedule this year.
08:23Like, the schedule was much easier last year, and they faded at the end of the season versus finishing the season strong.
08:30You know, there's obviously a little bit of nuance to this because, yeah, they should have been able to beat Louisville in a close game.
08:39And the SMU thing, I mean, listen, I probably blame the ACC officials on that as much as I blame Miami, but you could say it shouldn't have been that close.
08:47So, yeah, I wish the team was perfect.
08:50They're obviously not perfect yet, but I do lean to 10-2 with some quality wins.
08:55This was a really good season, and it's probably a season that should be enough to get them into the playoff.
09:01And, Donald, that SMU, and, you know, I've talked about this before with Louisville, they're trying to keep the games close.
09:06And, you know, the style of ball Mario plays where the style points is what this committee's doing.
09:13We're talking about the BCS versus the committees where the human beings are watching it.
09:17They go out there and run damn Pitt off the field.
09:19That was embarrassing for Pitt's football program.
09:22Like, shouldn't you – will Mario learn from this year if they don't make it?
09:26Or if they do make it, just learn from this year.
09:28Go out there and put 50 on the board and don't leave this up to anybody.
09:32Yeah, and I think he didn't even have to wait until the end of the year to learn it.
09:35I think he learned it in mid-November because that's when you really started to see things turn around.
09:41And I also – I think you have to give credit to personnel as well because I think it was a little – like late October, Carson Beck was in a funk.
09:49Like, he started the season strong.
09:51He finished the season really strong.
09:54I think that they were calling plays a little bit, like late October, first game of November to kind of protect him a little bit.
10:01And then I think towards the end of the year, like when Miami discovered Gerard Pringle, who's a true freshman, he was ready to go like late in the season,
10:10he was able to really open up their running game and make it more explosive.
10:13And, you know, throughout the season, every week, Malachi Tony got more and more comfortable.
10:20Just like the amount of responsibility that Tony was able to take on as a guy who's getting targeted 15, 20 times per game,
10:28catching 12, 13 balls per game.
10:31He's throwing passes.
10:32He's running it three, four times a game.
10:35Like Miami, I think Malachi and Miami both got more comfortable with each other throughout the year,
10:40and that helped the offense become more open and more explosive.
10:44But I think there was also the conscious effort.
10:46So I would like to think and hope that, like you said, Crowder, Cristobal did learn that, hey, we need to do what we were doing in November this year.
10:53This needs to be Miami's identity full-time.
10:56Alex Dono, check out Locked On Canes podcast, and hopefully we'll be able to talk to you next week, Dono,
11:04about a college football playoff matchup that the Hurricanes will have.
11:08If not, we'll talk to you next week.
11:09Who knows?
11:09The committee is so unpredictable.
11:12I'm not ruling anything out.
11:14Anything can happen.
11:15You're saying there's a chance.
11:18It sounds like let's go Texas Tech.
11:21So BYU falls out, and if BYU wins, there's no chance.
11:26No, yeah.
11:26If BYU wins, our goose is cooked.
11:29Yeah.
11:30Our cookie is crumbled, as they say up there.
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