Saban Puts Miami in His Top Four as the Hurricanes Host Florida State

Nick Saban has put Miami in the top tier of college football. On Friday, the former Alabama coach named four teams he sees above everyone else: Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami and Ohio State. He made the comments in his weekly spot on "The Pat McAfee Show," Larry Brown Sports reported. The Hurricanes are the only ACC team on the list.

Most of the reaction came from Alabama, which Saban left off the list. Gameday Times, in a story carried by Yahoo Sports, wrote that Crimson Tide fans took the snub as Saban trying to motivate his old program through the media after its loss to Georgia, with Tennessee up next. Saban said "there's four teams up there," according to the outlet, which credited Mike Rodak for the quote. He described those four as the most dominant and complete teams of the season so far.

For Miami, his words line up with the results. The Hurricanes are 5-0 and have won by an average of nearly 40 points. They have scored 248 points and allowed 49, which works out to about 49.6 points scored and 9.8 allowed per game. Only Wake Forest has scored 20 points against them. Last week's 41-13 win at Clemson was the program's best result of the season, coming on the road against a conference rival that has set the bar in the ACC for most of the past decade. Wins at Stanford and Wake Forest show they can win away from home, and Central Michigan and Florida A&M managed 10 points combined in Miami Gardens.

None of this decides anything in October. But when a seven-time national champion coach groups a team with Georgia, Notre Dame and Ohio State, it adds to the story building around the Hurricanes, who Tallahassee Reports listed at No. 3 heading into the weekend.

Florida State comes to Miami Gardens

Florida State visits Saturday night for the rivalry game, a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN and Disney+. It is Miami's first home game since it beat Central Michigan 52-3, and the Hurricanes have not trailed by much all season.

The board on this site expects a lopsided game. Across 12 venues, Miami is a heavy favorite. Novig, one of those venues, has the Hurricanes at -1329 on the moneyline and Florida State at +1150. On the spread, Novig has Miami favored by 20.5 at -113. The best price anywhere on the Miami side is Pinnacle's -116 at -20, so the venues are half a point apart on the line. Sportsbook hold on the spread runs from 3.5% to 7.0%.

The total is 56.5 at Novig, with the over at -100 and the under at -102. Pinnacle has the best over price at 56, at -114. That number sits well above the 9.8 points per game Miami's defense has allowed, which suggests the market expects more from the Seminoles' offense than the Hurricanes' first five opponents produced. Hold on the total ranges from 4.0% to 6.7%.

Full prices from every venue are on the Florida State at Miami odds page, refreshed about every ten minutes.