No. 1 Miami's Week Is Here: the Skeptics Want a Signature Win, and Notre Dame in South Bend Is the Test
The 8-0 Hurricanes hold the top ranking in both major polls and a resume the country is still arguing about. Saturday night at Notre Dame — with GameDay in town and both staffs already talking — is where the argument gets settled.
Miami is No. 1 — in the Associated Press poll, in the Coaches Poll, and in the record book at 8-0 — and the strangest thing about this Hurricanes season is how much of the country still wants to see the receipt. USA TODAY's assessment, read in full by this desk, lays out the skepticism plainly: a team that played in the College Football Playoff national title game last year and opened this season ranked No. 7 has stayed on top by staying unbeaten, one of only three FBS teams without a loss — but it needed double overtime to get past Florida State and trailed North Carolina with eight minutes to play on Saturday before scrambling back to win 38-35.
The resume is the other half of the argument. Miami's eight wins include exactly one over a ranked opponent, 33-20 against No. 15 Wake Forest, and neither the Seminoles (3-5) nor the Tar Heels (4-4) count as the kind of win a No. 1 team brags about, however competitive both games were. That is why Saturday matters more than any game on the schedule so far: No. 1 Miami travels to South Bend to face a 7-1 Notre Dame team ranked No. 4 in the AP poll, in a prime-time game (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock) with ESPN's College GameDay on site — the first true signature-win opportunity of the Hurricanes' season.
Notre Dame week formally opened Monday. Head coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson both previewed the matchup in Monday sessions reported by 247Sports, with the Miami defense — which has allowed 93 points across its last three games — at the center of the questions. Notre Dame, for its part, published a Monday injury report with real news in it: linebacker Drayk Bowen, a front-line defender, is listed as out for the Miami game, one of five front-line Irish defensive players named on the report as the Irish prepare to slow what the report itself called the No. 1 offense in the country.
The stakes run in both directions. Notre Dame cannot afford a loss without sweating out the College Football Playoff; Miami, with a wider path, would still hand the selection committee a reason to drop it in the second weekly rankings — and a loss would put the ACC's hopes of sending two teams to the playoff in a tough position, with the Irish owning the head-to-head win. A win in South Bend, on the other hand, gives the Hurricanes the quality road victory their resume is missing and quiets the schedule argument in a single night. Kickoff is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
