Hunter Yurachek says Miami jumped Notre Dame only after BYU fell out of the mix, a rationale that undermines the committee’s weekly rankings and its use of head-to-head results.
PublishedDecember 7, 2025 2:28 PM EST•UpdatedDecember 7, 2025 2:28 PM EST
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The College Football Playoff Selection Committee answered the most pressing question on Sunday morning. They decided that Miami, which beat Notre Dame earlier this season, belonged in the playoff and Notre Dame did not.
Most people probably agree that head-to-head should matter and the Hurricanes’ win over the Fighting Irish absolutely should have pushed them ahead. But the decision to put Miami in over Notre Dame raised a big question: if the committee indeed valued that head-to-head victory, why was Notre Dame ranked ahead of Miami in the final rankings release prior to Selection Sunday?
As part of ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoff official bracket release, CFP chair and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek joined the show to discuss the committee’s process. Host Rece Davis rightfully grilled Yurachek and demanded that the chair explain how Miami jumped Notre Dame despite neither team playing a game this weekend.
CFP chair Hunter Yurachek told ESPN’s Rece Davis Miami passed Notre Dame only after BYU fell, raising questions about head-to-head logic and consistency in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
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Yurachek strangely claimed that the committee didn’t use the head-to-head in previous rankings because Notre Dame and Miami weren’t side-by-side until BYU left the conversation after its loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship.
“Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had that side-by-side comparison (with ND) that everyone had been hungering for,” Yurachek said.
That’s when Davis pressed.
“So you’re telling me that head-to-head never really came up till they were ranked side by side? That seems to be different from the process of ordering and ranking the teams that you guys go through,” Davis commented.
Yurachek didn’t seem to have a good answer and started talking about a very early ranking where Louisville and Miami were near each other.
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CFP Committee Chair Can’t Explain Contradictory Process
So Yurachek’s explanation is that the committee didn’t compare Miami and Notre Dame simply because BYU was in-between them? What? In the penultimate CFP rankings, the committee placed Notre Dame at No. 10, BYU at No. 11 and Miami at No. 12.
So, Miami was worse than Notre Dame, in the committee’s eyes, when BYU was No. 11 but better than Notre Dame once BYU lost? How does that make any sense?
That’s the problem with releasing CFP rankings throughout the season; it puts the committee in a position to consistently contradict itself. For that matter, why did BYU drop out of the No. 11 spot? Yes, they lost in the Big 12 Championship. But Yurachek also proclaimed that the committee didn’t want to punish Alabama for playing in the SEC Championship, even though they were blown out by Georgia.
In one breath, Yurachek claims the committee doesn’t penalize teams for making their conference championship, which is why Alabama made the CFP. Yet, BYU drops below Miami for losing in their conference championship? What sense does that make?
Ultimately, the committee got it right. People will argue about both Tulane and James Madison making the CFP, but that was forced due to the rules that are in place about conference champions. That’s not on the committee.
Alabama deserved to be in. BYU deserved to be out. Miami earned its spot over Notre Dame by virtue of beating the Irish head-to-head.
But that doesn’t absolve the committee of its inconsistent process and inability to explain its decisions that seem contradictory. Good on Rece Davis for pushing Yurachek. However, the CFP chair’s obfuscation on the tough questions shines a brighter light on the problems with the committee’s entire rankings process.
