Hypothesizing a bit here, but with the (horrible) loss today, I see Ole Miss dropping to at least #15. Next week, Alabama plays Auburn, Miss St. plays Ole Miss. Currently Auburn is Miss St.'s only ranked win (LSU and Texas A&M are no longer ranked).
A few scenarios to consider:
1) If Auburn loses terribly to Alabama next week, they could easily drop out of the top 20. With a loss to Miss St., Ole Miss likely drops out of the top 20. This means at the end of the season:
-Miss St. has beaten two top-25 teams, and has no conference championship.
2) Compare that to an OSU team that (if things go the way we'd obviously like them to) would have 3 top 25 wins (one potential top 10 win in MSU, one top 20 win in Wisconsin, one top 25 win in Minnesota [I'm speculating that Minnesota will jump to #18-ish this week, and end up at #24/25 with a loss to Wisconsin]) and a conference championship. There is no way you keep a Miss St. with no statement victories and no conference championship in over an OSU team that has 3 top 25 wins and a conference championship.
3) TCU and Baylor are the wildcards. Aside from no conference championship game (and potentially a split title between TCU and Baylor), the thing that hurts them is that it's hard to tell which of these two teams is truly better. Splitting the committee might give OSU the edge.
4) The other scenario is that Ole Miss finds a way to beat Miss St.; unlikely, but before today they WERE favored against Miss St. by a few points.
5) Am I the only one who thinks Florida has a legitimate shot at upsetting FSU? FSU is flirting with disaster, and UF has the kind of defense that can make a game interesting. Not to mention, Jameis Winston/his ankle just does NOT look right.
In a scenario where Alabama loses to Auburn next week, they're out of the playoff outright. I don't personally see a scenario in which we actually have to suffer through two SEC teams in the CF playoff. Most analysts have realized this, I'm not sure why more haven't frankly. I noticed that a lot of people are now stressing about OSU's chances, this likely scenario (OSU's achievements > Miss St.'s) being one reason why I'm not.
