The committee's job is to pick the best team of 136 teams, rank it, then pick the best team of the remaining 135 teams, rank it #2, then pick the best team of the remaining 134 teams, rank it #3, and so on and so forth until 25 teams are ranked. The FSU precedent tells us that by "best" they mean "most likely to win in the playoffs" and not just "team that has the most impressive record" (even though the two are highly correlated).
So let's run this thought experiment.
It's hard to argue that Ohio State is not the "best" team. Undefeated in a good conference, and beat good out-of-conference opponents. Has barely trailed all season.
Of the remaining 135 teams, the only undefeated team is Indiana. Also in a good conference. I'm going to be somewhat controversial here, because if you're asking me whether there's a better team in that 135, I would say yes, and that team is Georgia. My reasoning is simple: in the absence of some really peculiar advantage in terms of matchups or injuries, virtually any playoff team would feel better about its chances against Indiana than it would against Georgia. Maybe that's SEC bias, but I don't think I'm out of line saying that Georgia would be undefeated with Indiana's schedule, while Indiana probably would have dropped a game (or more).
Of the remaining 134 teams, the only undefeated team is Indiana. Who is best among Indiana, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, and Oregon? This is a hard question to answer. In terms of talent, I believe it's Texas A&M, but Indiana has a better QB and a better win (Oregon) than Texas A&M (ND). So I would call 3-4 a tie. If Ohio State beats Indiana in the CCG that should be enough to dock them down to #4 (even though I don't believe it changes the answer to the real question, which is whether opponents are more scared to face Texas A&M than Indiana)
Of the remaining 132 teams, you have Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Oregon, and BYU each with one loss; Oklahoma, ND, Bama, Miami, Utah, and Vandy with two losses; and Texas, Michigan, and USC with their three losses. Of these teams, the team with the most defensible claims to being "best" are the one loss teams from strong conferences: Ole Miss and Oregon. If I think Georgia is better than Indiana then I should also think losing to Georgia is less bad than losing to Indiana, but on the other hand I can see about half the field of teams preferring to face Ole Miss in a playoff game. More talent, more money, the whole thing. So, I'm going to say Oregon is the "best" team of those 132 and Ole Miss is the "best" team remaining after that
Of the remaining 130 teams, you have Texas Tech and BYU each with one loss; Oklahoma, ND, Bama, Miami, Utah, and Vandy with two losses; and Texas, Michigan, and USC with their three losses. I'll be blunt. I think most of the field would rather face one of BYU, Texas Tech, Utah, and USC (the "we like our chances" camp). So I'm going to set them aside for now. A good argument could be made that, of those 130 options, Texas is the team that puts the most fear into everyone else if the game is played in December or January. By the same logic, very good arguments could also be made about Alabama, Miami, and Notre Dame, all of which are teams that can boast recent postseason success (an ability to "peak at the right time") on top of elite talent (the "Fuck" camp). Everyone else (Oklahoma, Vandy, and Michigan) are closer to that "we like our chances" camp.
So, who is "best" among Texas, Alabama, Miami, and Notre Dame? My gut tells me Notre Dame is not the best of those four, but maybe isn't the worst, but then again lost to Miami (but would it lose in December/January)? The same can be asked about Alabama, which is why a loss in December would cut against the idea that it is "best" of the four, even if that loss is to a great team in a conference championship game.
By "best," I mean "strikes the most fear in playoff opponents"