Can someone explain Cochran's Caramoan game?

I finished S26, and I just don't really get the narrative of Cochran, and to a lesser extent, Dawn, being the mastermind swing votes behind the whole game. Every boot was either a Fan or a Favorite that was trying to target another Favorite, and next to none of those situations involved Cochran. Where does Cochran fall into this?

IMO Dawn was more influential as she was the one who snitched on Malcolm and Corinne, which shaped the merge pretty majorly.

Sherri MVP.