*Seeds:

1 Oregon

2 Texas

3 BYU

4 SMU

5 Ohio State

6 Indiana

7 Penn State

8 Tennessee

9 Alabama

10 Georgia

11 Ole Miss

12 Boise State

*Seeds are not what the teams are ranked. SMU and BYU are not ranked third and fourth in the country. They are the three and four seed due to the top four highest-ranked conference champions being top four seeds and receiving byes. 

If Miami can barely beat average ACC teams week in and week out, maybe that’s what they are, an average ACC team. The Hurricanes have one ranked win over Louisville, but their defense continues to allow way too many points. Their defensive efficiency is 77th in the country. On the offensive side, Cam Ward’s inconsistency rears its ugly head in a loss to Georgia Tech. If the Hurricanes faced a tougher schedule, their record would be nowhere near 9-1. Miami knew Georgia Tech was going to run the ball and they could not stop it.

Notre Dame is one of the first teams out. Their SOS is 73rd and their best win was against a Texas A&M who looked awful in the game with their backup quarterback. Ole Miss’s SOS is fifty spots higher at 23rd and their win against Georgia was dominant. They also beat South Carolina by 24 and put up 63 against Arkansas on the road. Alabama’s SOS is 11th. The Crimson Tide have beaten Georgia, South Carolina and LSU. Both the Crimson Tide and the Rebels also have a better strength of record (8 and 12 respectively) than the Fighting Irish (13). Notre Dame’s strength of schedule is in the same area as Group of Five schools.

Unless someone beats BYU in the Big 12 title game, the Cougars will be the only team from the conference to make the playoff.