I've thought this for a while. There was no choice but to put us at No. 1 after the Kentucky game, and even then, they couldn't drop us too far for losing to UGA on the road. But the South Carolina loss was a "told you so" moment for the media and the playoff committee.
There's a lot working against us. Our 15 years of mediocrity, Heupel seemingly trending down at UCF following Scott Frost's undefeated season, our poor secondary/passing defense, and the coup de grace was the USC loss combined with Hooker getting injured.
It will all be resolved in time, but it's gonna take a few years of consistent winning in the SEC.