Assuming we were undefeated this year and assuming Utah wins the Pac 12, we would have beaten 3 Pac teams including the champion plus one of the best G5 teams, plus an SEC team that is bowl eligible. Granted none of that happened but I'm not sure we'd be guaranteed to be left out in such a case. Next year seems even harder to justify leaving us out if we were to go undefeated. It's a pipe dream at present but I'm skeptical of the arguments.