Man, it would be awesome to end the season ranked. Gotta start cheering against those teams in the bottom 5 or so.

Here are the teams we need to watch (Coaches Poll, but they're all pretty similar):

18--Army (11-1 at time of ranking, now 12-2). They've lost once (Navy) since last ranking. Beat a 5-7 Louisiana team 27-6 after Marshall dropped out of the Independence Bowl.

19--Iowa State (10-3 at time of ranking, now 11-3). Beat Miami 42-41, they’ll likely move up.

20--Missouri (9-3 at time of ranking, now 10-3). They came from behind in the Music City Bowl to beat Iowa. They were down early, and it seemed as though they were going to fall, but they fought back for a 27-24 win.

21--Illinois (9-3). Plays #15 South Carolina in Citrus Bowl today. Go ‘Cocks!

22--Colorado (9-3 at time of ranking, now 9-4). Got absolutely blown out by BYU 34-14 in the Alamo Bowl. Would love to see us ranked higher than them at the end of the year.

23--Memphis (10-2 at time of ranking, now 11-2). Already beat West Virginia 42-37 in the Frisco Bowl. They'll stay ahead of us, likely moving up.

24--UNLV (10-3 at time of ranking, now 11-3). Beat Cal 24-13 in the LA Bowl, don't think we leap past them.

25--Syracuse (9-3, at time of ranking, now 10-3). Completely annihilated Washington State 52-35 in the Holiday Bowl.

Receiving votes ahead of us:

26--Texas A&M (8-4 at time of ranking, now 8-5). USC Trojans beat the Aggies 35-31 in the Las Vegas Bowl.

27--Duke (9-3). Faces #14 Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl. Need a win by the Rebels.

28--Louisville (8-4). Playing 6-6 Washington Huskies in the Sun Bowl today. Go Huskies!

29--Kansas State (8-4 at the time of the ranking, now 9-4). Made a massive comeback to beat Rutgers 44-41 in the Rate Bowl. They were down 34-17 midway through the 3rd quarter before storming back.

30--Marshall...since they turned down their bowl invite, we should leapfrog them no question. We were one place below them.

So, we need to leapfrog six teams and not have anybody pass us.

Current status: Army’s loss to Navy helped us, but their defeat of Louisiana likely keeps them above us. In reality, we are probably also jumped by Navy, who has wins against Army and Oklahoma since the last poll (which they were not receiving votes in).

We will pass Marshall. Losses by Louisville and Duke should get us ahead of them. I think we could be over Texas A&M as well. I’d bet Colorado falls pretty heavily. To have any prayer, we need an Illinois loss by a lot along with losses to Louisville and Duke. Still not sure that does it, but it puts us right on the bubble.

Here’s a question, though. At the beginning of the season, the Board of Coaches selected for the Coaches Poll is chosen at random. Here’s the listed criteria: ‘The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the American Football Coaches Association their willingness to participate.’ On the panel is Tim Albin, coach of OHIO. Does that mean the vote is Albin’s for the final poll or OHIO’s? Does he put us high because of his link to the team or screw us because he feels wronged on the way out the door?

(There are a couple other coaches on the list of voters no longer with their school or with any school, like Neal Brown (WVU). Do they still vote?)

I bet we end up receiving a couple votes, but it’s been a few weeks since we’ve won so some of the luster may have worn off come voting time.

We have a nice “quality loss” thanks to Syracuse, but having that win would’ve solidified us for sure. UK loss was ugly and looks uglier with their 4 wins.

Think we’re likely in that 27-28 range.

Lane Kiffin says a loss to Kentucky gets you into the playoff.🤣

Seriously though, the UK loss was bad, but not having Navarro was a big deal there. Ninety-nine percent of voters won’t look that far into it tho.