Notre Dame, dry your tears, because Miami still stands in CFP bracket

Give it a rest, Notre Dame. Dry your tears. Polish your helmets. Miami’s out here winning in the CFP.
Miami defense rallies in support of Carson Beck, who had a rough day against Texas A&M.
Mario Cristobal thankful that Miami’s head-to-head result with Notre Dame mattered.

COLLEGE STATION, TX – Give it a rest, Notre Dame. Dry your tears. Polish your helmets.

And, goodness gracious, log off social media if you can’t handle what @ACCFootball tweets.

Miami’s still playing, after a 10-3 upset of Texas A&M in the College Football Playoff, while the Irish are left winning hypothetical games in their minds.

Maybe, the Irish could have beaten Texas A&M or Miami in the CFP’s first round.

We’ll never know, but I have no doubt an Irish fan would insist Notre Dame would have waylaid the Aggies or Hurricanes in a rematch.

That’s the stuff of daydreams, a place where games always unfold to perfection.

Here in the land of reality …

Miami played Notre Dame and Texas A&M. It beat them both.
Notre Dame played Miami and Texas A&M. It lost to them both.
Texas A&M played Notre Dame and Miami. It beat the Irish and lost to the Hurricanes.

That’s why the Hurricanes are still chugging — and rightfully so. The committee got it right when they selected Miami, even if they took a bizarre course to reaching that destination.

“What was fuzzy about it?” Miami coach Mario Cristobal asked rhetorically.

Nothing ever should have been fuzzy for the committee, which took the long road to acknowledging the fact Miami and Notre Dame compiled the same record and similar metrics, and the Hurricanes won when the teams played.

Cristobal thought his team had a case last season, when it got left out at 10-2. It had a better case this year, with head-to-head on its side.

The argument Notre Dame should have gotten in over Alabama lost some muster, too, around the time the second quarter started in the CFP game in Norman, Oklahoma.

Cristobal says he holds no ill will toward Notre Dame — but he’s loath for the day when head-to-head results stop mattering.

“I’m sure (Notre Dame) would do great in the playoffs,” Cristobal said, “but … we won the head-to-head, and god forbid we should ever get away from the meaning of head-to-head.’

“Let us never, ever devalue the importance of head-to-head competition,” he added.

I can hear Notre Dame fans hollering, “What about 1993?!”

Hey, take that up with the AP and coaches poll voters of ’93. That year, Notre Dame beat Florida State during the regular season. Each team finished with a single loss, and the Seminoles were voted national champions, and Notre Dame finished No. 2, in a year undefeated Auburn was on NCAA probation and ineligible for the postseason.

Fortunately, we have a playoff to decide this now. Notre Dame would have been in the bracket if it had beaten either Miami and Texas A&M. Every result counts. In a crowded bubble scenario, the Irish couldn’t run away from a head-to-head loss with Miami.

So be it. Lose fewer games.

Nobody would dispute the Irish improved throughout the season. Meanwhile, Miami has won five straight, since losing its way in the middle of the season.

“The way that we responded from (those two losses) just tells the whole entire story of who this team is and what this team wants,” Miami quarterback Carson Beck said. “We responded … in, honestly, astounding fashion and proved that we should be in the playoffs, that we should have this opportunity.”

Miami’s defense responded to Beck not playing well against Texas A&M. On a windy day at Kyle Field, Beck’s accuracy betrayed him. Kicker Carter Davis struggled to find his mark, too, missing three of four field goals.

Mark Fletcher stepped up with 172 rushing yards, and Miami’s defense was nails.

“From the first snap to the last, the defense came to play,” said defensive lineman Reuben Bain, who blocked an Aggies field goal.

The way Miami’s defense played evoked memories of the Hurricanes’ stymieing Notre Dame for three quarters in August, before the Irish rallied to turn a once-lopsided score a close outcome.

Bryce Fitzgerald’s second interception of Marcel Reed sealed this win. The Hurricanes forced three turnovers, in sum.

That’s how a team prevails in a playoff game with only 103 passing yards from Beck, the highly paid quarterback.

“The defense played lights out,” said Akheem Mesidor, Bain’s trusty sidekick on the havoc-wreaking defensive line. “As long as they don’t score, they don’t win.”

That strategy worked well enough in this one. To beat No. 2 Ohio State, Miami will need more from Beck.

Notre Dame are left to convince themselves they would’ve beaten the Buckeyes, too, because you can’t lose the matchups that are only played in your mind.

Miami will get to settle it on the field, just as it did against Notre Dame, then Texas A&M.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.