one is guaranteed to play without injuries... and we had to keep winning even with them, so no one is guaranteed much of a consideration long term, but to the computer, it might be that as it builds games 7-9, it could take into consideration if those injuries are season ending or if they are going to return. That might change a teams range of competitors from 5-35 for those games, if players are expected to come back, it could keep them playing teams 1-25.

The point is that the computer controls the competition, handicapping as needed and ensuring that each team has a basically equal schedule, so it is possible if New Mexico was 6-0 after six games, and New Mexico St 2-4, that in games 10-12, becasue it's a rivalry match up, they would play. More likely, rivalry games would happen by game 9, with games 10-12 to really be focused more on the winnowing process, by keeping the top 40-50 teams competing for 32 slots.

Sure, you might get a team like Georgia that walks thru their schedule and is 9-0, and to be fair, 10-12 are scheduled by after game 6. That means they likely are playing random selections in the top 40 teams, most of who they COULD/SHOULD beat, but not certain, because the computer might also think 9-0 Georgia and 8-1 Alabama should play in one of the final 3 games.

The difference is after week 6, the schedule is set, and the computer ranks the teams to 32, then it sets the bracket, and we play for #1