Hunter Yurachek explains why Miami landed CFP berth over Notre Dame
By David Wasson
Published:
The College Football Playoff field is set, with plenty of controversy surrounding the 12 teams that earned coveted spots in the field along with the hue and cry from those programs left out of the mix.
CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said that the door opened for Miami after seeing BYU’s 34-7 loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game – a setback the committee felt moved the idle Hurricanes past the Cougars.
“The first move in that was how we felt BYU performed in their championship game, a second loss to Texas Tech in similar fashion, was worthy of Miami moving ahead of BYU in the rankings,” Yurachek said to Rece Davis on ESPN. “We then had that side-by-side comparison between Notre Dame and Miami.”
Yurachek also said that it wasn’t until the Hurricanes were paired beside the Fighting Irish that the head-to-head result between the two teams on Aug. 31 (a 27-24 Miami victory in Miami Gardens) was considered in trying to weigh them against each other.
“The one metric we had to fall back on was the head-to-head,” Yurachek said. “I charged the committee members to watch that game again, because it was so far back, and we got some interesting debate from our coaches on what that game looked like. On that, we gave Miami the nod over Notre Dame for that 10th spot.”
Yurachek, who serves as vice chancellor and director of athletics at Arkansas when he isn’t chairing the CFP committee, confirmed that Miami’s head-to-head against Notre Dame never came into consideration until that point – because Miami entered the first CFP rankings on Nov. 4 at No. 18 and Notre Dame was ranked 10th.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
