CFP chair: Miami over Notre Dame came down to head-to-head

One of the hottest topics around the College Football Playoff rankings this season was the distance between Miami and Notre Dame.

Despite the two programs sporting identical 10-2 records, the committee consistently ranked the Fighting Irish above the Hurricanes throughout the year, angering many fans who were quick to highlight Miami's Week 1 win over Notre Dame.

The committee previously cited the teams not being close enough in the rankings for the head-to-head result to come into play.

That changed Sunday, with the committee opting to move Miami into the playoff bracket and keep Notre Dame out after BYU's Big 12 championship loss dropped the Cougars behind the Hurricanes.

"In last week's rankings, we thought Notre Dame was better than BYU and deserved to be ranked higher than BYU, and we thought BYU deserved to be ranked higher than Miami," CFP chair Hunter Yurachek explained on ESPN's playoff selection show. "After the championship game in the Big 12 and the way BYU performed again against Texas Tech, we felt Miami deserved to be ranked ahead of BYU. And then you had the direct head-to-head comparison of those teams - Miami and Notre Dame - sitting, respectively, at 10 and 11 in our poll."

The Hurricanes should send BYU some lavish gifts for getting blown out by Texas Tech for a second time this season, as the result forced the committee to lean heavily on the season-opening head-to-head matchup, which Yurachek admitted that it hadn't done up to that point.

"Not until they really got in close proximity, side by side, with the move with BYU were we able to evaluate just those two teams side by side. We always had someone between them, whether it was previously Alabama and BYU and then just BYU in the last week."

The assessment is certainly a confusing way to end up with Miami in the field over Notre Dame, but the Hurricanes won't be upset entering their first-round matchup against Texas A&M on Dec. 20.