Worthy of a slot means ratings. You can talk about the polls and such, but TV networks pay the bills. They are a business. They aren't just putting teams in certain slots for a favor, they want money.
Worthy means ratings. I hate Colorado, but they are a draw. People watch. We played Notre Dame and guess what? ABC put us on in primetime. When we were a draw with Lamar, we got on ABC a lot more and hosted Gameday twice. The polls are flawed yes, but the networks are doing what makes them money. TV time slots are merit based.
They played NDSU and got almost 5 million viewers on a Thursday. Their game against Nebraska was the #2 game in week 2 with over 5 million viewers. Last week even against Colorado State, they got over 3 million viewers. They're a draw. If people watch, advertisers pay more money, the network makes more money. So yes, they are worthy of a primetime slot.