Thus the "desired benchmarks." There'll be teams who are happy with certain outcomes and weigh additional advantages as too risky, or else seeds will already be secured, just like they can be in the NFL.
Nothing used to suck worse than watching the Colts in the last game or two of the year when they were already #1 no matter what, and Peyton didn't play. Of course, then they'd go on to lose after a bye to a wildcard team, or else the Patriots, and we probably at least won't see that because both the Big Ten and the SEC have rejected the Patriots' request to join their conference.