2010 Preseason Top 25: The Miami Hurricanes Draw Six Ranked Opponents
The Miami Hurricanes have never avoided playing a tough schedule, and this upcoming season is no different. The 2010 college football preseason poll was released last week, and the Hurricanes were ranked 13th right behind Wisconsin. Polls are fairly inaccurate and are merely a guess as to what will really happen on the field, but for the Hurricanes, this is one thing that can be taken from the schedule. Come to play or don’t come at all, six of the Hurricanes twelve opponents this season are ranked in the preseason top 25.
The Hurricanes will take on the following ranked teams—Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Florida State. One college football expert has Miami’s schedule ranked at the eighth toughest in the country while ESPN has it ranked in the top five. Miami fans love the fact that they Hurricanes play tough opponents because it always leads to good games, and when they do win the trash talk is warranted.
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But the fact that Miami is willing to take on all comers is also the reason why it will be tough to win a National Title underneath the current system. The Hurricanes playing six ranked opponents with most of the games being in conference says a lot about the tough road ahead of them, and then you throw in games at #2 Ohio State and #15 Pittsburgh to see that their toughest games are on the road.
The big positive out of this is, if the Hurricanes can find a way to run the table then they should be a virtual lock to be in the BCS Championship game (provided all these teams pan out somewhat like their rankings).
That is the good news, but the bad news is also the fact that Miami made things a little bit harder for themselves when they joined the ACC. The fact that Miami has Florida State on the schedule every season is a big disadvantage in conference play. As much as I would love to say Miami will beat Florida State every year, I know that will not happen.
The fact is now either the Hurricanes or Seminoles will have a built in conference loss every season to one of the best teams in the conference and maybe the country. That puts them a game down in their respective divisions within the conference, and they still have the tough teams in their division to get past.
Imagine this scenario Miami beats every team in the Coastal Division except Virginia Tech, and loses to Florida State. Virginia Tech beats every other team in the Coastal division, but did not have to play Florida State that season. Instead Virginia Tech in the rotation drew Maryland whom they easily dispatch; Miami would have virtually no chance to catch up since the Florida State game counts against them in the division.
What the means is it will be difficult to get the Florida State versus Miami ACC championship game that everyone has been hoping for. Throw in the tough schedule based on the preseason rankings, and the Hurricanes have their work cut out for them. This schedule is par for the course at Miami, they have already scheduled games with Notre Dame in the future, and are playing South Florida for the next few years.
With their schedule littered with teams ranked in the preseason top 25, you can’t say that the Hurricanes are ducking anyone. If they can find a way to make it to the Florida State game with an undefeated record we may be in for a historic season at Miami.
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