Miami projected to stay No. 1 after Pitt rout as upsets reshape the top 10
A 52-23 win over Pitt has Miami projected to hold No. 1 in Sunday's AP poll, with Wake Forest climbing to No. 14 and a trip to North Carolina next.
Saturday's upsets knocked unbeaten teams loose across the country, but Miami stayed where it was. The Hurricanes beat Pittsburgh 52-23, and CBS Sports projects them to stay No. 1 when the AP poll comes out Sunday. That would end two straight weeks of turnover at the top.
This was Miami's first game as the AP's top team since 2002, and it never got close. The Hurricanes went up 17-0, led 31-7 at halftime and added more after the break. They played in throwback uniforms honoring the 2001 national title team. Chip Patterson of CBS Sports wrote that the final score suited that team's standard and called the win another milestone for Mario Cristobal. Sophomore receiver Malachi Toney broke his own program records with 16 catches for 194 yards and three touchdowns, according to The Miami Hurricane. Quarterback Darian Mensah completed 31 of 37 passes for 387 yards. "There's not a guy more dependable in the country than Malachi Toney," Cristobal told the student paper.
The chaos behind Miami helps it. CBS projects No. 2 BYU to drop to No. 5 after losing to unranked UCF. No. 8 Texas Tech lost at Cincinnati and is projected to fall to No. 12. Ohio State, Notre Dame and Georgia were all off and are projected to move up to Nos. 2 through 4. Texas beat Ole Miss and is projected to jump from No. 19 to No. 10, the move in the headline. Iowa and USC are projected to drop out after their second losses.
The other ACC team in the projection is Wake Forest, which was off and is projected to climb from No. 17 to No. 14 before it hosts Virginia. Wake Forest's 33-20 home loss to Miami in September is still the one mark on its record. That gives the Hurricanes a second win over a team projected to be ranked, on top of a 41-13 win at Clemson.
What it means for North Carolina
Miami is 7-0 and goes to North Carolina on Saturday, October 31. Through seven games the Hurricanes have outscored opponents 343-107, about 49 points to 15 per game. Their average margin is just under 34 points. They are 3-0 on the road, winning at Stanford 45-6, at Wake Forest 33-20 and at Clemson 41-13. Their one close finish was a 43-35 home win over Florida State in mid-October. That is also the only time an opponent has scored more than 23 points against them.
The Pitt game showed the formula holding up. Miami built a big lead early, controlled time of possession and let Mensah and Toney go to work. Pitt scored 23 points, the second-highest total Miami has allowed. Even so, the game was out of reach by the second quarter.
Playing at Chapel Hill brings a road crowd and a different kind of pressure. Miami is now the team every opponent wants to beat, and this week showed how fast that can go wrong. BYU and Texas Tech both went into Saturday unbeaten and lost to unranked teams. With Ohio State, Notre Dame and Georgia right behind, Miami has little room for a slip. More on the Hurricanes' season is on our Miami team page.
