The Hurricanes had one of their best performances of the season in their win over N.C. State on Saturday, and it helped them further inch up the College Football Playoff rankings.

Miami moved up from No. 15 last week to No. 13 on Tuesday, moving UM closer to its first-ever berth in the College Football Playoff after a week of lobbying from the ACC.

Similar to the previous rankings, the Hurricanes are the top-ranked ACC team, which means the projected bracket puts Miami in the playoff. But that projection assumes the Hurricanes will be the ACC champion, and Miami is unlikely to reach the conference championship due to its ACC record.

The Hurricanes’ most likely path to the playoffs is as an at-large bid, which could put Miami’s resume against fellow likely non-conference champions. That group could include No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 14 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Utah and others.

Of course, to even be in consideration, Miami will have to win its road game against Virginia Tech this Saturday and a road game against Pittsburgh to close out the regular season.

Here is this week’s College Football Playoff ranking:

1. Ohio State

2. Indiana

3. Texas A&M

4. Georgia

5. Texas Tech

6. Ole Miss

7. Oregon

8. Oklahoma

9. Notre Dame

10. Alabama

11. BYU

12. Utah

13. Miami

14. Vanderbilt

15. USC

16. Georgia Tech

17. Texas

18. Michigan

19. Virginia

20. Tennessee

21. Illinois

22. Missouri

23. Houston

24. Tulane

25. Arizona State

This story will be updated.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/18/hurricanes-playoff-rankings-nc-state/