The committee obviously values brands when they decide who gets ranked where, even if it’s not a part of their official criteria. Even a bump into the ACC hasn’t benefitted SMU this year in the new, expanded College Football Playoff.

SMU’s slim chance of making the 12-team field as a second ACC team pretty much evaporated when the previously undefeated Hurricanes lost to unranked Georgia Tech, dropping Miami from fourth to ninth in the committee’s second round of rankings.