There are people who are heavily into game analytics, and they tend to explain certain decisions by explaining that you make those decisions because then you'll know what you need.
That's where USC football is after the third weekly release of the CFP rankings have the Trojans sitting at 15th, up a couple of spots from last week, and not really gaining much credit for beating Iowa. But it is what it is, because from the beginning we knew that USC had to beat Oregon to get into the playoffs. If the Trojans win in Eugene on Saturday, they will be in position to be the third Big Ten team in the 12-team bracket.