Outside of Michigan football and the other top four teams, the playoff landscape is littered with woulda-coulda-shoulda contenders, now lying by the roadside, hoping the top six run into a late-season buzzsaw.
It could happen, of course. Notre Dame is the only one of the top-ranked teams not facing a conference championship game – good news/ bad news as they aren’t in battle on the last weekend so won’t lose but aren’t in battle on the last weekend when the committee has its eyes on teams with momentum.
Alabama could lose to Georgia (huh?) in the SEC championship and still land a spot, but everybody else has to run the table to stay in the hunt.