The AP Poll has been released, marking the start of the college football season. This weekly poll will indicate how teams are ranked until the College Football Playoff poll is published later in the year.
Every season, there is usually a team that is ranked but underperforms, ending the season outside the rankings. Last year, the Florida State Seminoles were ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll but finished with a record of 2-10. This year, the top 10 teams in the poll are:
1. Texas Longhorns
2. Penn State Nittany Lions
3. Ohio State Buckeyes
4. Clemson Tigers
5. Georgia Bulldogs
6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7. Oregon Ducks
8. Alabama Crimson Tide
9. LSU Tigers
10. Miami Hurricanes
On "The Paul Finebaum Show," the SEC Network analyst was asked which team in the top 10 he could see finishing the season outside the top 10. Finebaum again chose a team from the ACC.
"I think the most vulnerable team is Miami," Finebaum said.
Finebaum did not explain why he believes Miami is vulnerable, despite previously stating he thinks the Hurricanes will win nine games this season.
"I think Miami will go nine plus," Finebaum previously said. "I don't think they'll win the ACC. I do believe Clemson will. I don't see a lot of losses on Miami's schedule, but maybe one or two."
Kyle Wood from Athlon Sports believes that Miami has the fourth toughest schedule in college football. The Hurricanes won't play a game outside of Florida until November, but Wood anticipates they will face challenges before that point. Miami will kick off the season by renewing its rivalry with national champion runner-up Notre Dame and will also host Florida, a team it defeated convincingly on the road to start the 2024 campaign.
In the final month of the season, Miami will be on the road for three games. They will begin at SMU and conclude the regular season with two consecutive away games against Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. Additionally, Louisville and Syracuse, the teams that eliminated Miami from College Football Playoff contention last season, will visit Hard Rock Stadium in 2025.
ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) evaluates team strength and aims to predict each team's future performance. This year, the FPI is particularly favorable toward Miami, ranking them as the No. 9 team in college football. Notably, the FPI ranks Miami higher than the Clemson Tigers, which is in the No. 11 spot.
Both the FPI and Paul Finebaum agree on the likelihood of winning the ACC: Clemson has a 34% chance, while Miami has a 30.5% chance. Furthermore, the FPI gives Clemson a marginally better chance of making the College Football Playoff, with probabilities of 47.3% for Clemson and 46.3% for Miami.
Despite this challenge, there is a great deal of excitement in Miami following the signing of Carson Beck, the former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback and one of the top players in the transfer portal. During his two seasons as a starter at Georgia, Beck passed for 7,426 yards, threw 52 touchdown passes and recorded 18 interceptions.
Unfortunately for Beck, his season was cut short last year due to an injury he sustained in the SEC Championship Game against the Texas Longhorns. In that game, the Bulldogs triumphed 22-19 but then lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff, 23-10.
Beck and Miami will begin their season against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET.