Originally Posted by
Johnson85
It's not finishing in the top 12.
First, realistically, there's likely going to be a G5 team not in the top 12 that will qualify, so that really means top 11. And if any P5 conference has a conference champion not in the top 12, which will not happen every year but occasionally will when there is a down year or when a conference with a weak division has an upset in the conference championship game, you're talking about top ten.
But second, it's not finishing the season that way, but having the chance to if you win the egg bowl.
2014 is the only year I'm aware of that obviously counts. The only other potential year I'm aware of is 2017, where we were 14th before they broke Nick's ankle. No guarantee we would have made it if we had won, but Washington St and Notre Dame both dropped out of the top 12 the next week. We likely would have finished 12th and gotten screwed b/c of the G5 qualifier.
Similar to the way Ole Miss was apparently 12th in the final playoff ranking in 2015 after winning the egg bowl but would not have made it because the G5 automatic qualifier would have been #18 Houston.
Nothing else comes to mind. Ole Miss just missed a chance at the SEC Game in 2004 (I think? Eli's last year; just screwed up against LSU, although I guess that means they were already out of it by egg bowl?). Would 99 have counted for us maybe?