Hocutt and the committee gave us a peek into the ranking process this week. And as much as some people b!tch about it, it looks to be pretty systematic to me...
His most revealing comment IMO was that there isn't much separation between teams 2 thru 6. Alas, those teams all have one loss. Bama has zero, and teams 7-12 have two losses.
Among those one-loss teams, tOSU, Michigan, and Clemson are ranked ahead of us, and I can accept the argument that all three have better resumes. Washington is behind, and they may be perceived as having a worse resume. The not unexpected result is that we sit at 5.
Wisconsin appears to have at least as good a resume as U of L, but they're behind us slightly and not part of Hocutt's "not much separation" group. And the big difference as I now see it, they have a second loss.
Hocutt's indicating to us that it's pretty simple no matter how we wanna complicate it... Taking a loss is a HUGE discriminator. Watch the loser of Michigan/tOSU drop below all of the one-loss teams. Watch the same thing happen to Clemson if they lose. WITHIN a one- or two-loss group, they apply their much discussed tie-breakers. But not otherwise.
And the important takeaway... Without another loss, no two-loss team--champ or not--will jump us...