Miami AD fires shot at Alabama after College Football Playoff rankings reveal

Miami's athletic director was not pleased with being placed behind Alabama, and thus out of the College Football Playoff bracket entering Championship Week.

Miami moved outside the College Football Playoff bracket after losing in the regular season finale, and now the school's AD is comparing his team to Alabama, which moved back into contention. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich didn’t waste much time expressing his anger at the decision of the College Football Playoff selection committee to put Alabama ahead of the Hurricanes in their penultimate rankings.

That decision puts Miami on the outside of the latest College Football Playoff bracket projection, and unlikely to move back in unless there’s chaos during Championship Week.

“Really??” Radakovich said in an X post after the rankings went live. 

“.... what put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and GT team that just took UGA to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by OU, and beat FCS Mercer).”

Miami went 1-2 in its final three games, losing to Georgia Tech, winning against Wake Forest, and falling to Syracuse in the regular season finale.

That loss put Miami out of the ACC Championship Game, a result that could prove fatal to its College Football Playoff chances, given the committee seems to prefer its SEC counterpart.

Alabama went 2-1 in that stretch, beating Auburn in the Iron Bowl and Mercer and not scoring a touchdown in a surprise 24-3 loss to unranked Oklahoma on the road.

College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Warde Manuel offered an explanation for why he and his colleagues put Miami behind Alabama in the new rankings.

And it had to do with the Crimson Tide’s performance against top 25 ranked teams and opponents with a winning record.

“What it came down to is as we evaluated both teams and looked at how they rank, obviously we think highly of both teams,” Manuel said of the decision.

“One’s at 11. One’s at 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3-1 against current top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami’s 4-2.”

Manuel added: “Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted out of those games. But in the last three games, Miami has lost twice.”

And given that they failed to qualify to play for their conference championships, neither Alabama or Miami will likely move from their respective position in relation to each other.

That means Miami, and not Alabama, will have to hope for some upsets during Championship Week, a position the school’s athletic director does not appreciate having to be in.

More ... The latest College Football Playoff bracket projection

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