They'll always remember what you do in November ... or something like that. Approaching the season's final month and first College Football Playoff Rankings reveal a week from Tuesday, there's plenty of unsettled conference championship paths within the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 during a consistently chaotic campaign. Half of the most important games left for Power Four programs in the top 25 fall on the same Saturday — Nov. 7 — including three top-15 matchups within the SEC.
When that weekend ends, we'll see widespread changes within the CFP Selection Committee rankings that will alter bracket projections entering the final regular-season games. The aforementioned teams were grouped by tiers earlier this month with respect to their national championship value. And a peek at updated odds in Week 9 suggests we nailed those tiers.
Why: The Holy War has rarely meant more than it does this season, featuring two top-10 teams with sizable stakes. The lone unbeaten team left in the Big 12, the Utes would all but punch their ticket into the CFP and Big 12 Championship Game with a victory. The Cougars, after the win over Notre Dame and loss at UCF, have backed themselves into a corner of an at-large reality with a loss.
Even with a 10-2 finish and failure to win the conference, we believe BYU will have done enough to get in the bracket. However, the only foolproof way to convince the selection committee is to win in Salt Lake City against a fellow league titan. Why: Prepare for SEC anarchy on Selection Sunday within various towns across the league.
Baton Rouge might be one of them if Lane Kiffin's Tigers fail to beat the Crimson Tide on the road next month. As it stands, according to the Week 9 AP poll, these two titans have combined for one win this season over a currently-ranked opponent: Kentucky. LSU's resume hasn't aged well, but the Tigers get a chance to change that with Alabama, Texas and Tennessee over three weeks in November.
The loser of this game, in our estimation, will be left out of the 12-team bracket. Why: Tabbed as No. 2 most important game of the 2026 season back in February's way-too-early lookahead, this one still holds significant CFP implications in South Bend a few weeks from now. It's not a must-win for Miami to get a top-four seed since it's not a conference game for the unbeaten Hurricanes, but it does border on that for the Fighting Irish following their unexpected loss at BYU.
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