Ya ND has an awful loss, it was also in September and they haven’t lost since then.
Tennessee did lose to Arkansas, but they went 6-1 afterwards and their only loss was to Georgia. Wins over Alabama and Florida.
Byu finished on a dud…I have no doubt if the ASU/Kansas games were flipped with say the SMU/Kansas St, so we start 2-2 and finish 8-0 with a win over an undefeated SMU team in November that we would be in the discussion. Timing matters.