Most teams that reach the College Football Playoff are not perfect at the end of the season.

As ESPN’s Heather Dinich pointed out Monday, 22 of the 36 teams to reach the CFP since its inception have not finished the season perfect. Even in a year with a lot of strong teams, it’s likely we’ll see at least 1 or 2 make the playoff with a loss.

A few SEC teams are in the mix, too. Alabama, Missouri and Ole Miss were all pointed out as potential contenders, with Ole Miss listed as a fringe team specifically. Alabama ranked No. 3, Mizzou No. 7 with Ole Miss on the outside looking in.

Here’s the whole list:

  1. Texas
  2. Oregon
  3. Alabama
  4. Utah
  5. Oregon State
  6. Penn State
  7. Mizzou

The Tide’s only loss this season came to No. 1 on Dinich’s list: Texas. The Longhorns lost to Oklahoma in Dallas but were able to beat Alabama soundly at Bryant-Denny Stadium earlier in the season. Since then, the Tide have won 5 SEC games over the likes of Texas A&M, Tennessee and Ole Miss.

Some may think Missouri isn’t a serious candidate, but they have plenty of opportunity ahead of them and an acceptable loss to LSU in the eyes of the committee. The biggest opportunity of them all comes in a few weeks when the Tigers face off against No. 1 Georgia in Athens following a bye. Mizzou then faces Tennessee the week after that.

Ole Miss is in a similar boat. They did not play as well against Alabama as Mizzou did against LSU, but the Rebels also face off against Georgia with an opportunity to do some damage.

But for both the Rebels and Tigers, it’s so much easier said than done.