A Miami Hurricanes fan at Saturday night’s double-overtime thriller against Florida State held up a sign that deemed the UM football team No. 1.

Such messages are commonplace in sport, and often not factually accurate. At the time, they were, in fact, No. 3.

But after a wild college football Saturday that saw five of the top seven teams in last week’s AP Top 25, including the two who were in front of Miami, go down, it came true Sunday. The Hurricanes (6-0, 4-0 ACC) sit atop the AP poll for the first time since the end of the 2002 season, before losing that infamous Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.

Although that’s an accomplishment in its own right, another affirmation of coach Mario Cristobal’s process of returning his alma mater to football prominence, this UM team cannot feel like it’s the best team in the nation right now. Not after squeaking by the struggling unranked Seminoles as three-touchdown home favorites.

And precisely that might be the best scenario for Cristobal.

The Miami coach escaped with a victory, surviving two nearly successful Florida State Hail Mary attempts, while gaining a ton of ammunition to drill into his players’ heads that they’re not all that — not yet, at least.

FSU (3-4) scored five touchdowns on this Miami defense. Quarterback Darian Mensah looked human. He was under constant duress from leaky pass protection. The Hurricanes committed seven penalties, many of them untimely, for 68 yards in the first half Saturday to keep the Seminoles in the game the whole way. Then, when it was time to put FSU away in regulation with the fourth-quarter momentum after a go-ahead score, a tying 75-yard touchdown surrendered one play later.

All of this will be stressed by Cristobal as UM turns around to host Pittsburgh at noon on Saturday.

Beyond Miami’s own shortcomings, the college football season itself should lend enough examples of the kiss of death the No. 1 spot has been.

First, it was Ohio State. The Buckeyes lost to Texas on Sept. 12. The Longhorns were perched atop the rankings for four weeks. Now, they’ve lost back-to-back games to teams unranked at the time they played, Oklahoma and Florida. So, that meant Georgia held the top spot last week. That didn’t last long, with the Bulldogs getting upset by Auburn on Saturday.

“We have a good enough sample size of 2026 to know that that’s absolutely insignificant and irrelevant with the changing of the guard week to week,” Cristobal told reporters at Hard Rock Stadium after the 43-35 win over FSU. “It just has no value to our processes.”

The Hurricanes climbed to No. 1 despite the narrow escape because of all that happened around them. With Georgia’s loss, Notre Dame had its chance but lost later Saturday to previously No. 8 BYU, which is now No. 2. Ohio State went from No. 4 to 3 after defeating Indiana, which was No. 5. No. 6 Alabama lost to Tennessee, and No. 7 Texas was dropped by Florida.

There’s also value in that, in a week where so many top teams suffered setbacks, the Hurricanes came away with a victory while not playing their best — in a rivalry series that’s known to find its way to have the teams play each other tight even when one program is down.

“Everyone knows, when these two teams get together, it’s a bloodbath,” Cristobal said Saturday night.

Handling most of their previous opponents with ease, they also experienced late, close-game scenarios, which could prove valuable come playoff time.

While UM is No. 1 now, the Notre Dame loss, which now has the Fighting Irish ranked fourth, fails to line up Miami and Notre Dame as 1 and 2 three weeks before their showdown in South Bend Nov. 7.

There could’ve been value in the delayed gratification of having to beat the Irish on the road to earn the top rank. Now, if Miami wins games against Pitt and North Carolina the next two Saturdays, it should go into that game already holding it.

The Hurricanes became No. 1 Sunday, but it’s how they react to that ranking that could go a long way toward determining if they’re No. 1 when they really want to be, after the national championship game Jan. 25 in Las Vegas.