Louisville football tomorrow hosts SMU at 3:30. This one goes a long way in determining the Cardinals chances of going to the national playoffs, since the Mustangs rank 16th nationally, while the Cards are seven places behind them at 23rd.

But how do programs reach that ranking.

A lot of it is money. Take a look at this chart from the Athletic:

Obviously, the teams at the top are highly likely to be highly ranked in national polls. Louisville and SMU fall toward the middle, but since they’re both around the $25 million mark, at least it shows they’re competitive.