Miami falls to No. 7 in CFP rankings, would host BYU

The committee had 1 loss to grade, and the Hurricanes went from the top spot to the middle of the bracket in a single Tuesday night.

Adam Rittenberg

@ESPNRittenberg

Miami falls from No. 1 to 7 after a narrow road loss without Malachi Toney. The first set of rankings, folks, were laughably bad.

That was the first reaction, and it came hot. Miami played in South Bend without Malachi Toney, its star receiver, who was out with an ankle injury. The Hurricanes lost by 7 on the road to a top-15 team and still fell further than almost anyone expected. Notre Dame jumped from No. 11 to No. 5, Georgia took over No. 1, and the beat writers and national voices were not shy about how they felt about the 6-spot drop.

Jon Wilner

@wilnerhotline

Miami dropping 6 spots after close loss at Notre Dame is preposterous.

It isn't all bad news, though. Miami is 8-1, still sits comfortably inside the 12-team field, and the projected bracket gives the Canes a home playoff game at Hard Rock Stadium against a BYU team that hung on in the top 10.

Gaby Urrutia

@GabyUrrutia247

The College Football Playoff rankings now project No. 7 Miami to host No. 10 BYU at Hard Rock Stadium in the first round. More: t.co/uizHJG5aYl

About an hour later, committee chair Hunter Yurachek got asked the obvious question: how does the committee read Miami's resume after a loss without its best player? His answer was a bit of a shrug on Toney, plus a compliment the Miami faithful will hold onto until December.

Then he explained the drop, and it came down to the first half. Notre Dame went up 24-3. Miami cut it to 7 twice and had a potential touchdown wiped off by the officials. The committee says it saw all of that and still slotted Georgia, Utah, Alabama, Texas and UCLA ahead of the Canes.

Jordan Lopez

@JordanTLopez

On whether the committee takes into consideration how a team plays in the first half compared to the second half: "Absolutely. The committee watched that game, was well aware that Notre Dame was up 24-3. Miami cut that lead on two occasions to 7. They had a potential touchdown that was ruled not a touchdown by the officials." "There were some things that happened right behind them with Georgia, Utah, Alabama, Texas, and UCLA that the committee felt like they deserved to be ahead of Miami..."

Jordan Lopez

@JordanTLopez

CFP Selection Committee chair Hunter Yurchek was asked at the media conference how they view Miami's resume now after the Notre Dame loss and not having Malachi Toney: "We only have one game to evaluate Miami without Toney. So we can only use that metric." "We still have a lot of respect for Miami. They have a lot of talent. Their offense seemed to find their way... A lot of talent on that team with or without Toney."

So the committee is basically saying it respects how Miami fought back, but it's still grading the 24-3 hole. That's annoying if you're a Canes fan, and also fixable. Miami gets Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College, all at home, before the ACC Championship Game. Win all 4 and a top-4 seed with a first-round bye is back on the table. Lose any of them and that 6-spot drop is going to look like a warning.