Quick prologue: In baseball projections there is a simple projection system that is sort of the standard that fancy metrics try to beat, called Marcel. Most models cannot beat Marcel in projections. In football, there is a similar simple model to project/evaluate team strength called Simple Rating System.
Miami is 16th in Simple Rating System this season. Taking out MAC teams, who have played only two games and are MAC teams, Miami jumps up to 13th. I use a model that I built that uses components of two pretty basic measures (Expected Points Added and Success Rate) and incorporate Simple Rating System figures into the model. My model has them 15th in the country.
What's funny to me is that the only matchup between two teams in the top-25 of the SRS model this weekend was Miami vs. Virginia Tech.
Tulsa is the top-25, but SMU (the ranked team) isn't.
Miami has beaten #23 (VT), #29 (NC State), #37 (Virginia), #46 (Pitt), #47 (UAB), #62 (Louisville), #91 (Florida State) and lost to #3 (Clemson). They've won five games against top-50 teams this season.
Alabama has won two. #17 (Georgia), #33 (Texas A & M)
Cincinnati has won two. #29 (SMU), #50 (Army)
Florida has won two. Same two as Alabama.
Notre Dame has won two. #3 (Clemson), #46 (Pitt)
To me, it's time to stop treating this Canes team as a garbage heap and put some real respect on what they've accomplished after last year. Only team in the country with five top-50 wins thus far (sans MAC teams).