ACC hoping CFP committee will 'reconsider' Miami's ranking - ESPN

Tuesday's release of the College Football Playoff Rankings, the last installment leading up to the finale on Sunday, was not favorable to the Miami Hurricanes. And their conference took issue with it.

Indeed, Alabama snuck into the coveted No. 11 spot, as announced on ESPN's rankings release show, while Miami fell to No. 12. That means, barring an upset in Saturday's ACC championship game between Clemson and SMU, Alabama might be headed back to the CFP for the ninth time in the past 11 seasons — despite losing three times under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer — while the Hurricanes get left out of the first 12-team tournament.

In a statement, released after the show concluded, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said the league was «incredibly shocked and disappointed» that Miami fell six spots to No. 12 and added coach Mario Cristobal's team «absolutely deserves better from the committee.»

«As we look ahead to the final rankings,» he added, «we hope the committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field.»

Miami suffered their second defeat of the season on Saturday, 42-38 at Syracuse. It was their second loss in three games, which all came in conference play. The less-than-stellar finish meant Miami failed to qualify for the ACC title game, which makes matters more difficult for a team that opened 9-0.

Cristobal spoke on a South Florida radio station earlier on Tuesday, long before the rankings were released. He, at the time, implored the selection committee to «go to the facts» when deciding whether the Hurricanes (10-2, 6-2 ACC).

«We won 10 games this year and not many teams have,» Cristobal said on WQAM, the Hurricanes' flagship station. «And in our losses, those losses came down to one possession. That's a