If they go to the Rose bowl and beat a penn st or Wisconsin and do it convincingly than they’ll have a lot of momentum (and publicity for being left out) heading into next year.. plus consolation prize of a rose bowl victory

They make the playoffs and get destroyed it can actually be a program momentum killer.. similar to ND in 2012 and maybe even UW a couple years back.. everyone then says their just overrated, had a weak schedule, don’t belong etc