There are several factors that make the Miami Hurricanes a contender to win a National Championship this season.
Miami has a star quarterback in Darian Mensah, a deep roster, and proof of concept, having just made a deep playoff run in 2025.
Mario Cristobal’s team made that deep run despite a low seed (10th) and a difficult bracket. Miami had to win a true road game at Texas A&M to open things up before battling top opponents Ohio State and Ole Miss just to earn the right to face number-one seed Indiana.
This year, Miami likely won’t have as difficult a climb through the regular season and conference schedule. Opportunity knocks for a high seed and first-round bye.
The Hurricanes have one less Power Four non-conference opponent on the slate this year. A previously scheduled matchup with South Carolina was mutually scrapped after the SEC and ACC both expanded to nine conference games. The Canes will face Central Michigan instead of the Gamecocks.
In their conference schedule, Miami manages to avoid regular-season matchups against SMU and Louisville, two teams who beat them last year and arguably make up the second- and third-best teams in the ACC.
Beyond their road trip to Notre Dame on November 7, the Hurricanes will likely be favored in their 11 other contests. The early line against Notre Dame sees the Irish favored by six and a half. Miami’s next most difficult game, on paper, is a road trip to Clemson. The Canes are five-and-a-half-point favorites for that one.
The Phil Steele College Football Preview Magazine ranks Miami’s strength of schedule at 61st nationally. Their 2025 strength of schedule was 44th. The only other preseason contender with a lower SOS than Miami is Notre Dame at 66th.
Here are the strength-of-schedule ratings for the other teams considered preseason title contenders.
Oregon – 20th
Ohio State – 6th
Texas – 1st
Texas A&M – 28th
Indiana – 24th
Georgia – 18th
Ole Miss – 16th
Oklahoma – 5th
I personally don’t consider Texas Tech to be a legitimate contender anymore after losing quarterback Brendan Sorsby, but their schedule is considerably easier than Miami’s and Notre Dame’s, ranked 81st.
Miami will have every reason to build a strong résumé during the regular season and a hopeful appearance in the ACC Championship Game. One of our season keys, as I wrote yesterday, will be maintaining consistency and focus against the teams they should beat.
Could a relatively easy schedule backfire? This question was brought up to me by my Locked On Podcast Network colleague Brian Smith. He noted that only Notre Dame will truly challenge Miami at the line of scrimmage this season, making him wonder if Miami’s new-look offensive line will be prepared for the intensity of the College Football Playoff.
My answer to that question is this: Iron sharpens iron on the Greentree Practice Fields. Mario Cristobal is known as one of the toughest coaches in the country when it comes to the intensity he requires in training. While the Hurricanes' offensive line won’t necessarily see a gauntlet of future NFL defensive linemen most Saturdays this fall, they’ll have to contend with the likes of Damon Wilson II, Ahmad Moten Sr., Justin Scott, Armondo Blount, and Marquise Lightfoot every Monday through Friday. They’ll have to make every rep count.
The Hurricanes showed the nation last year that they were built for the postseason. Cristobal and his staff like to play their ones versus ones as much as possible to foster the intensity.
As long as they bring out the best of one another in practice, their schedule won’t hurt them in the playoffs.
