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University of Miami (FL) athletic director Dan Radakovich bashed the College Football Playoff Committee after the Hurricanes were excluded from the 12-team bracket in the College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for conference championship weekend, which were announced during ESPN's live broadcast Tuesday (November 26) night.
Miami (10-2) was ranked No. 12, one spot behind Alabama (9-3) despite having one less loss.
“Really ?? ….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),” Radakovich wrote on his X account. “Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by OU, and beat FCS Mercer).”
Alabama was the only three loss team to be included in the projected college football bracket.
"Obviously, we think highly of both teams; one's at No. 11 and one's at No. 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3–1 against current Top 25 teams and Miami is 0–1," said College Football Playoff committee representative Warde Manuel, the University of Michigan athletic director, during ESPN's live broadcast Tuesday night. "Alabama is 6–1 against teams above .500, and Miami is 4–2.
"Both have had some losses that weren't what they wanted out of those games. But in those last three games, Miami has lost twice. For us, in evaluating their body of work, we felt that Alabama got the edge over Miami."
The College Football Playoff expanded from four teams to 12 teams this season with conference champions automatically included in to the field. The four highest-ranked conference champions are seeded Nos. 1-4 and receive first-round byes.
Seven at-large teams will be determined by the remaining highest-ranked teams and seeds 5-8 will host first-round matchups. Boise State and BYU, who both rank lower than Tennessee, are currently leading their respective conferences and would secure the No. 4 and No. 12 seeds, respectively
The full College Football Playoff Top 25 poll for conference championship weekend is listed below with current playoff seeds listed in bold:
- Oregon (Big Ten)- 12-0
- Texas (SEC)- 11-1
- Penn State (SEC)- 11-1
- Notre Dame (IA Independents)- 11-1
- Georgia (SEC)- 10-2
- Ohio State (Big Ten)- 10-2
- Tennessee (SEC)- 10-2
- SMU (ACC)- 11-1
- Indiana (Big Ten)- 11-1
- Boise State (MWC)- 11-1
- Alabama (SEC)- 9-3
- Miami (FL)- 10-2
- Ole Miss (SEC)- 9-3
- South Carolina (SEC)- 9-3
- Arizona State (Big 12)- 10-2 (Current Big 12 conference leader)
- Iowa State (Big 12)- 10-2
- Clemson (ACC)- 9-3
- BYU (Big 12)- 10-2
- Missouri (SEC)- 9-3
- UNLV (MWC)- 10-2
- Illinois (Big Ten)- 9-3
- Syracuse (ACC)- 9-3
- Colorado- (Big 12)- 9-3
- Army (AAC)- 10-1
- Memphis (AAC)- 10-2