The Miami Hurricanes certainly took care of business in their way, way overdue first Saturday game of the season, turning an early 3-0 deficit into a 35-3 halftime lead on the way to a 52-3 final score. Once the Hurricanes got their feet under them in the first quarter, they turned on the jets and dominated. But despite the score, as Cam pointed out in G/B/U, the 13 penalties for 107 yards left A LOT to be desired, and a lot to work on.
So, how did the voting public view Miami’s performance in relation to the rest of the country on Saturday? Pretty well, actually. The Canes moved up in both the AP and Coaches Polls on Sunday.
Miami moved up two spots in the AP Poll and one in the Coaches Poll, sitting at No. 4 in both. Miami moved ahead of both Ole Miss and Indiana in the AP Poll and Indiana in the Coaches Poll. Ole Miss got their doors blown off by Florida 52-28 in Gainesville. Indiana won a scrappy game at home against Northwestern 29-23 (their first Power Four opponent of the season), which voters didn’t seem all that fond of.
I had wondered if Wake Forest would find their way into the rankings after a 30-27 upset at then-No. 16 Louisville on Saturday. But, of course, I forgot that their name is Wake Forest, and thus they will not get the same level of respect as a team from the SEC or B1G, particularly the former. That’s why Kentucky is in there at No. 24 in the AP Poll at 3-1 despite a 45-17 home loss to Alabama this year.
But yeah, I know, as a number of you all love to complain about every single week, the polls don’t matter. They don’t technically, particularly right now. But I would argue that they create a perception later in the year about who’s good and who’s not, and there are people on the selection committee who may or may not consider perception.
In any event, Clemson, after back-to-back ACC wins, is up next on Saturday for Miami. But after a 51-10 loss to LSU this year, they are still not ranked (something that didn’t seem to keep UK from being ranked, but still). We’ll find out soon enough if the Hurricanes can keep the Tigers far from sniffing the polls on Saturday night.
