Updated September 4, 2026. Through the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Miami is 21 and 24 in bowl games and 3 and 1 in the College Football Playoff, and the record undersells the stakes. The Hurricanes played in ten bowls that decided the national championship between 1984 and 2003, won five of them, and last season won three playoff games (at Texas A&M, over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl and over Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl) before losing the national title game to Indiana.
The 2025 Playoff Run
| Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| First round | at No. 7 Texas A&M | W 10-3 |
| Quarterfinal, Cotton Bowl | No. 2 Ohio State | W 24-14 |
| Semifinal, Fiesta Bowl | No. 6 Ole Miss | W 31-27 |
| National championship | Indiana | L 21-27 |
Miami entered the playoff as the No. 10 seed, won a defensive slugfest in College Station, then beat the defending champion Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl, avenging the 2003 Fiesta Bowl 23 years later, and held off Ole Miss in Glendale. Carson Beck, Rueben Bain Jr. and Francis Mauigoa were the captains. Miami finished No. 2 in both polls.
Bowls That Decided the National Title
| Season | Bowl | Opponent | Result | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Orange | No. 1 Nebraska | W 31-30 | First national title |
| 1985 | Sugar | No. 8 Tennessee | L 7-35 | Would have won the title with Penn State’s loss |
| 1986 | Fiesta | No. 2 Penn State | L 10-14 | Seven turnovers, 70 million viewers |
| 1987 | Orange | No. 1 Oklahoma | W 20-14 | Second title, first 12-0 season |
| 1989 | Sugar | No. 7 Alabama | W 33-25 | Third title after Colorado lost in the Orange Bowl |
| 1991 | Orange | No. 11 Nebraska | W 22-0 | Fourth title, split with Washington |
| 1992 | Sugar | No. 2 Alabama | L 13-34 | Ended a 29 game win streak |
| 1994 | Orange | No. 1 Nebraska | L 17-24 | Nebraska scored 15 in the fourth quarter |
| 2001 | Rose (BCS) | No. 2 Nebraska | W 37-14 | Fifth title, 34-0 at halftime |
| 2002 | Fiesta (BCS) | No. 2 Ohio State | L 24-31 (2OT) | The pass interference call |
| 2025 | CFP Championship | Indiana | L 21-27 | First CFP title game |
Other Notable Bowls
| 1934 Orange | L 0-26 vs. Bucknell, the first Orange Bowl ever played |
| 1945 Orange | W 13-6 vs. Holy Cross, first bowl win |
| 1962 Gotham | L 34-36 vs. Nebraska at Yankee Stadium |
| 1980 Peach | W 20-10 vs. Virginia Tech, first bowl in 13 years |
| 1984 Fiesta | L 37-39 vs. UCLA, six lead changes |
| 1988 Orange | W 23-3 vs. Nebraska |
| 1990 Cotton | W 46-3 vs. Texas, 202 penalty yards, led to the NCAA taunting rule |
| 1993 Fiesta | L 0-29 vs. Arizona, worst bowl loss |
| 2000 Sugar | W 37-20 vs. Florida, after being passed over for the BCS title game |
| 2003 Orange | W 16-14 vs. Florida State, last major bowl win until 2025 |
| 2004 Peach | W 27-10 vs. Florida |
| 2005 Peach | L 3-40 vs. LSU |
| 2010 Sun | L 17-33 vs. Notre Dame |
| 2017 Orange | L 24-34 vs. Wisconsin, first Orange Bowl since 2003 |
| 2024 Pop-Tarts | L 41-42 vs. Iowa State |
Bowl Bans
Miami has missed the postseason by penalty three times: the 1995 NCAA ban following the Pell Grant scandal, and self imposed bans in 2011 and 2012 during the Nevin Shapiro investigation. The 2012 ban cost the Hurricanes what would have been their only ACC Championship Game appearance until the divisions were dropped.
Related Reading
National championships covers the title seasons in full, rivals has the Nebraska and Florida State bowl history from the other side, and Nebraska bowl history tells the same six games from Lincoln’s point of view.