Develop your players. Play .500 ball all season while they develop, and get ready for your CT. Study your biggest conference foes this season and spend the next month gameplaning how to beat them in the CT. When its time, just win the CT and take that auto bid. Your players should have developed some by then, maybe you pull off a rd 1 win. I don't see anything more than that as a realistic possibility, barring luck and whatnot... I see your dilemma, as another NT miss would lower your prestige yet again, taking you very nearly back to where it all began, and that must be frustrating. Remember, its only 1 game, small samples sizes, and micro-managing is often detrimental. Try to divide the season into quarters and make it a goal to win each quarter. Try not to make too many overall team adjustments (still maintaining any of your game-to-game game plan decisions natch) until after each "quarter" and look for performance trends over the quarter. Keep stats somewhere off site so you can track quarterly changes...good luck.