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By Michael Gallagher
Sports Content Coordinator
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Regardless of whether they left Miami or Notre Dame out of the College Football Playoff, the selection committee knew it was going to have some explaining to do.
So when the final 12-team CFP field was revealed on Sunday during ESPN’s “College Football Playoff Selection Show,” committee chair Hunter Yurachek stated the Hurricanes were included while the Fighting Irish weren’t came down to multiple factors.
The first of which was BYU getting boat-raced in the Big 12 Championship Game against No. 4 Texas Tech, which moved Miami ahead in the rankings. Then, Yurachek said, they had to evaluate Notre Dame and Miami as if they were ranked evenly, which brought about their head-to-head matchup in the season opener — a game Miami won handily.
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While Yurachek gave the politically correct answer he was expected to, ESPN “College GameDay” and “ College Football Playoff Selection Show ” host Rece Davis put Yurachek on the spot to explain why the head-to-head matchup didn’t factor into things until the final rankings.
“I don’t have a problem with the outcome; I’m asking about the process — so you’re telling me that head-to-head never really came up until they were ranked side by side?” Davis asked. “That seems to be different from the process of ordering and ranking the teams that you guys go through.”
After another half-hearted answer from Yurachek, Davis pressed further, making the CFP chair answer the tough question and take accountability.
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“I still need a little further explanation on why this matters because it is accurate to say that at some point in this process prior to this weekend that, at least in the group of teams…that Miami and Notre Dame have been in the same group for evaluation. Is that correct? So why did they have to be ranked side by side for the head-to-head to carry between them?”
Davis ultimately got Yurachek to admit the head-to-head matchup didn’t play into the committee’s decision until there was no team separating Miami and Notre Dame in the rankings. Davis’ relentless quest for an answer earned him lots of praise on social media.
“Rece Davis is a stud. He’s taking Hunter Yurachek to task with legitimate questions and calling out some of the committee’s hypocrisy,” one fan wrote.
“Rece Davis has Hunter Yurachek in hell right now lol,” another fan stated.
“Rece Davis is PRESSING Yurachek right now, and he’s not liking it,” a third fan remarked.
“Good on Rece Davis for pressing Yurachek for an explanation on this Miami-ND thing. Again, I think the result is right. But the committee's process to get there, shifting an order of two idle teams, makes no sense. (Which really means the penultimate rankings made no sense.)” applauded one user.
“Credit to Rece Davis for asking the questions we all wanted asked,” a second user replied.
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