Nix will have a month to rehab and hopefully be at full strength for the minor bowl game.
Oregon could get lucky and sneak into the Cotton Bowl; it depends on how far they drop in the CFP rankings...no, even I couldn't say that with a straight face; I can see four teams (Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Penn State) that would get the Cotton bid if
they don't get a playoff/Sugar/Orange bid. (This assumes Michigan wins the Big 10 and the Rose Bowl chooses Ohio State as the replacement; it doesn't have to be the highest-ranked team.)
These days, there's no guarantee that everyone suits up for a lower-tier bowel game. Many just want to concentrate on the NFL draft at that point.
Don't forget that the transfer portal is open as well (11/21 through 1/4, IIRC, except that the teams in the CFP and FCS championship games get a little extra time). Some players don't want to risk having their transfer stock reduced with an injury in
what they think is a meaningless game.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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