Here is how I see it....
There are four west contenders left. All have played one contender all have two games remaining against each other. Two of them have one loss already, bama and auburn. Two of them play their remaining contenders on the road, MSU and AU. Two play their remaining contenders at home, UM and bama.
So based on that algorithm, UM is the only contender without a loss that also has both remaining contenders at home. Bama plays both remaining at home but already has a loss. We play both remaining games on the road but don't have a loss. Auburn has a loss and both contenders on the road. So based purely on that analysis UM has the advantage, us and bama are about the same and auburn has the toughest pathway. Among all four teams the bears play all the others at home. Bama plays 1 road and 2 home. We play 1 home and 2 road & poor AU plays all three on the road.
Bottom line is we will very likely have to beat at least one more top 10 opponent on the road to get to ATL. Scary stuff.
The wild cards are other remaining road games that will not be pushovers. Us vs UK in lex. UM vs their 'real rival' in BR and Arky on the road. AU vs UGA in athens. Bama vs traditional rival UT in knoxville. Of all of those road wild cards I think us and bama have the best draws.