What was Ole Miss before Kiffin? You don't think the head coach matters? That's literally one of the criteria for ranking teams.
Also, if Texas gets left out because of its 3rd loss, there is no reason for an SEC or B1G team to schedule tough non-conference games. They have enough SOS playing in those conferences. Why risk a 3rd loss?
True. There will be a lot of politicking over the next week by the pro-Texas crowd, but unless the committee decides to let 6 SEC teams in, it's likely over for us.
Not necessarily. It can be argued that the way we played all season coupled with our 3 losses didn't give the committee enough reasons to rank us higher. The A&M win may have changed that. We will see.
If Miami makes it to the ACC championship game, it helps us because either they will knock out a potential second bid by beating them in the championship game or collect a 3rd loss and see themselves out of the CFP.
If Miami makes it to the championship game, I think that helps us a lot. If they win, they will be the only bid. If they lose, they will have 3 losses and be left out with the champ getting the auto bid. I think them getting in the title game is a win for us.
AI says: Miami can make the ACC Championship game if they beat Pitt and two out of the following three teams lose: Duke (to Wake Forest), SMU (to Cal), or Virginia (to Virginia Tech).
We just need to be in the top 5 in the SEC. I don't think other games matter if tOSU holds on. We should jump Vandy this week regardless of if they win today or not. That leaves Bama and OU ahead of us. If one of them loses, we should be in.