CFP committee rewards Notre Dame for long-awaited marquee victory

Notre Dame's statement win over Miami finally gave the Fighting Irish the signature victory the College Football Playoff Selection Committee had been waiting for. 

Speaking on ESPN’s rankings reveal show with Rece Davis, CFP Selection Committee chair Hunter Yurachek explained that Notre Dame had long been viewed as one of the nation’s most complete teams, but lacked the signature win necessary to justify a top-five ranking. That changed Saturday night when the Irish defeated Miami in convincing fashion, 31-24. 

How Notre Dame moved up six spots in the 12-team CFP

Yurachek said Notre Dame was "dominating" the game while building a 24-3 lead and looked every bit like a team deserving of the No. 5 spot. Miami rallied behind its offense led by QB Darian Mensah to make the final score a one-possession contest. The committee credited both the Irish's balanced play and Miami narrowing the gap. 

The numbers still favor Miami in strength of record, but rankings debates are often settled on the field. Notre Dame's head-to-head win over the Hurricanes may ultimately matter more than the gap between third and seventh in the metrics, particularly since both teams are 1-1 against current CFP Top 25 competition.   

"Notre Dame made one of the biggest moves of the week. We said last week that they had an opportunity to get a marquee win, and they did, beating the No. 1 team in the country in Miami," Yurachek said to Davis on ESPN's rankings release show, via Awful Announcing. 

The combination of losses by BYU and Ole Miss opened the door for Notre Dame to climb up the rankings. Miami, meanwhile, slid despite the competitive finish. Yurachek noted other contenders strengthened their cases during the weekend, including Georgia dominating Ole Miss 42-7, Alabama being rewarded for its 31-13 road win at LSU and UCLA getting a big win on the road at Minnesota, creating additional movement inside the top 10. 

Committee evaluates Miami on limited sample without Malachi Toney

"Miami didn't look great earlier in the game; give some credit to Notre Dame's defense," Yurachek said, via 247 Sports. "Miami found their way without Malachi Toney, came back and made that a 'very competitive game.'"

Insight into how the CFP committee handles significant injuries was put on display. Rather than speculating about how Miami might perform over a larger sample size without Toney, the committee is limiting its evaluation to the evidence available.

"We only have one game to evaluate Miami without Malachi Toney. So we can only use that metric," Yurachek added.