Skip to main content
Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

ACC leader stumps for Miami and conference champ to make CFP

AP file photo by Gene J. Puskar / ACC commissioner Jim Phillips hopes to have two teams in this year's 12-team College Football Playoff despite the most recent rankings from the selection committee making that scenario seem difficult.
AP file photo by Gene J. Puskar / ACC commissioner Jim Phillips hopes to have two teams in this year's 12-team College Football Playoff despite the most recent rankings from the selection committee making that scenario seem difficult. AP file photo by Gene J. Puskar / ACC commissioner Jim Phillips hopes to have two teams in this year's 12-team College Football Playoff despite the most recent rankings from the selection committee making that scenario seem difficult.

By AARON BEARD / The Associated Press 6 min read

Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips is pushing for No. 12 Miami to earn a bid to the College Football Playoff along with the winner of the league championship game between No. 16 Virginia and Duke.

That comes with the ACC facing at least the chance of being squeezed out of the 12-team bracket entirely based on Tuesday night’s rankings from the CFP selection committee.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Phillips was emphatic in making his case for the Hurricanes and then the league’s eventual champion. That comes after the ACC had a logjam of five 6-2 teams behind Virginia, triggering a tiebreaker policy that worked through multiple steps before sending five-loss Duke ahead of the Hurricanes and others for Saturday night’s title game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“I have conviction and confidence in our teams, starting with Miami,” Phillips told the AP. “The second piece of that is the Virginia-Duke winner should absolutely be in this College Football Playoff.”

The Hurricanes (10-2) have closed strong as the league’s highest team in the AP Top 25 poll and the CFP rankings, while the Cavaliers (10-2) finished as the lone team with one loss in the ACC’s eight-game league schedule.