Miami Crushes No. 3 Notre Dame 41-8; Hurricanes Make Playoff Push Amid Upsets

For the second straight week, the Miami Hurricanes overcame a major hurdle in their quest for an undefeated season—this time by destroying the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 41-8, at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday. 

At No. 7 in the latest College Football Playoff standings, 9-0 Miami trailed four one-loss teams (Notre Dame, Clemson, Oklahoma, TCU) when Saturday began.

The Hurricanes have had several close calls, including four games against unranked opponents decided by eight points or fewer, but impressive wins over Virginia Tech and Notre Dame by a combined 69-18 score should silence any questions about their standing as one of the nation's best teams. 

After a slow start for both squads, with three punts on the game's first three possessions, Miami kicked things into gear, starting with Malik Rosier's seven-yard touchdown pass to Braxton Berrios. 

The Hurricanes got the ball back three plays later when Jaquan Johnson picked off Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush.

Per ESPN's Chris Fallica, Miami has now done something no Power Five team has done in the past 13 years:

Rosier's 16-yard touchdown on the next possession helped extend the lead to 14-0, and the rout was on. After Miami moved up three spots, from No. 10 to seven, in last week's playoff standings, selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said the Hurricanes' previous ranking was based on a lack of dominance. 

"The selection committee and all of us had seen a couple of their wins come in dramatic fashion, (so we) wanted to continue to watch and evaluate Miami," Hocutt said (via Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). 

Notre Dame, which already had one loss, was four spots ahead of Miami when Saturday started. The Hurricanes decided to send a message, particularly showing off how wide the talent gap was between them and the Irish:

One thing Notre Dame didn't have to do much of during its 8-1 start was ask Wimbush to make plays with his arm. He's a running quarterback who completed 51.5 percent of his passes this season, though he was able to take care of the ball, as his two interceptions showed. 

Miami's defense forced Wimbush into throwing two picks in this game, though. Head coach Brian Kelly briefly benched the junior in a move that Jordan Cornette of ESPN 1000 didn't understand:

With Wimbush unable to get things going through the air, the Irish still had star running back Josh Adams to turn to. He had elevated himself into the Heisman conversation with four straight 100-yard games from Sept. 30 through Oct. 28, but the past two contests have been a different story. 

Adams followed his 22-yard effort against Wake Forest with 40 yards on 16 carries Saturday. Brody Logan of Fox 5 DC had this assessment of what happened to Adams against Miami:

Miami head coach Mark Richt has not wasted any time in turning this program into one of the nation's elite again. There were signs of improvement in his first season last year, as the Hurricanes went 9-4. They've already matched that win total this year with two regular-season games remaining. 

Richt earned high praise from a Hurricanes coaching legend for his team's effort against Notre Dame:

Of all the areas Miami picked apart Notre Dame, none was more impressive than the running game. The Hurricanes overpowered the Irish with 237 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. 

Sophomore running back Travis Homer has had two of his best games of the season in the past two weeks with 95 yards against Virginia Tech and 146 yards against Notre Dame, prompting this response from State of the U:

CBS Sports used one of Miami's most famous alums and the famous turnover chain to paint a picture of how things are going for the program:

Things couldn't have worked out better for the Hurricanes. They defeated one team in the Top Four of the playoff standings, and Georgia, which was ranked No. 1, lost a 40-17 blowout against Auburn. 

Assuming Alabama and Clemson remain in the Top Four, likely occupying the top two spots, Miami has as good of an argument as any other team in the country to earn one of the other two playoff spots when the new standings are released Tuesday. 

Notre Dame's loss, its second of the season, likely knocks it out of playoff contention. The Irish have two games left in the regular season against Navy and Stanford, leaving little time to make up enough ground and get the necessary help from other teams to make another run at the Top Four.