As we enter into the craziness of rivalry week and the last weekend of the college football regular season, one thing is certain: there may not be a bigger group of Pitt fans than the playoff committee. The biggest talking point of Tuesday Night's playoff ranking show is about Miami sitting behind. Notre Dame despite beating them in week one of the regular season. Right now, the opinion seems to be that the Fighting Irish are playing better football than the Hurricanes, and the argument comparing both teams obviously can be put to bed if Pitt beats Miami on Saturday at home.
Both teams need some help to get into the ACC Championship game, and the committee would like the Panthers to help make their job easier when choosing the 12 playoff teams. Of course, a loss by the Hurricanes ends their chances of being in the playoffs and makes it so the committee does not have to face scrutiny of choosing Notre Dame to make the playoff.
November, as of late, has not been kind to Mario Cristobal's teams from his days at Oregon to last year's choke job at Syracuse. It also does not help that the team from Florida is traveling to the much colder northeast.
We all know what Notre Dame did to this same Pitt team two weeks ago, so for Miami to make any gains on Notre Dame in the final rankings will have to put up an equally impressive win over the Panthers. Even if they do that, it may not be enough to make a difference in where they place these two teams, as Marcus Freeman's squad seems safely enough ahead to not lose ground.
The scrutiny will be intense if both teams end up 10-2 and have similar performances against the same opponent. Of course, most football fans would love to see the committee sweat, and there might be a lot of that depending on how this weekend plays out.