May 16, 2026, 8:19 a.m. ET
ESPN college football expert and “College GameDay” analyst Kirk Herbstreit likes for one of the best stories from the 2025-26 College Football Playoff to redeem themselves and win the national championship. Herbstreit picked the Miami Hurricanes, who lost in the most recent national championship to Indiana, to win the national title this season.
“I think Miami might be the team to win it all this year,” Herbstreit said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on May 14. “The running back (Mark Fletcher) is back. (Malachi) Toney is back. They are going to be loaded this year.”
Miami has the seventh-best odds (plus-1300) to win the national championship, per BetMGM. The Hurricanes are behind Georgia (plus-1000), Indiana (plus-750), Texas (plus-700), Oregon (plus-700), Notre Dame (plus-700) and Ohio State (plus-600). It would be quite a story if Miami were able to return to the naitonal championship and win after losing to Indiana on a heartbreaking Carson Beck interception.
“They told us to pick a team,” Herbstreit continued. “I picked Miami. But that doesn’t mean that we’re being held to it.”
Herbstreit’s GameDay co-host, Pat McAfee was unwilling to pick a national champion this early. We still have several months before the 2026 college football season starts in August.
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