Recently, the Miami football team flipped blue-chip 2026 DB JJ Dunnigan from Kansas, adding a rangy, physical back-end piece to Mario Cristobal’s future secondary. The Manhattan, Kansas native announced his switch after an early pledge to the Jayhawks, and scouting reports peg him as a fast, disruptive perimeter defender with the size to live at safety and the hips to survive at corner. It’s the kind of recruiting win that fits Miami’s roster blueprint: stack length and speed in the secondary, then let the pass rush and coverage feed each other.
CFP committee chair Mack Rhoades explained Tuesday why the Miami football team sits where it does in the latest rankings, and what’s holding the Hurricanes back. In an ESPN hit carried by On3, Rhoades praised Miami’s defense and overall talent, but cited inconsistent offensive showings as the separator, adding that head-to-head with Notre Dame factored into the room’s debate.
Context matters here, too: the ACC is a traffic jam, with no unbeaten team in league play and four programs tied at the top, yet the committee still slotted Miami as the ACC’s highest-ranked team at No. 15, just ahead of Georgia Tech at No. 16. Miami is 7-2 (3-2 ACC) and, because of the standings math, may need multiple results elsewhere to even reach Charlotte.
Per On3, the final weeks don’t offer many resume spikes either, though a season-ender versus No. 22 Pitt could age well if it holds. That’s the committee picture as of this week.
Road ahead, then, is simple if not easy: string clean offensive performances, reduce the presnap noise that stalled drives in losses, and let a top-tier defense carry field position. If Miami closes 2-0 with tape that looks as good as the box scores, the committee’s “consistency” ding becomes harder to apply.
Penultimate reminder of how the room has viewed Miami: in the first CFP release earlier this month, Miami debuted at No. 18, and Rhoades again flagged consistency, while national voices noted the committee doesn’t reward nonconference scheduling philosophy the way some would like. The feedback was blunt. Win steadily, cleanly, and the number next to your name will rise.
So, for the team, recruiting momentum is real, the defense travels, and the path to a better ranking is right there if the offense stops giving the committee reasons to hesitate.
