If the ultimate point of the playoffs is to pit the 12 best teams in the country against each other to maximize competition and watchability (recognizing in its current form it’s still imperfect because we have to include automatics that have no business in the playoffs - like the NFL division winners despite their record), for fun let’s look at who might be real contenders in a true bracket. I’ll include the cuspy teams on the bubble (eg Vandy, Texas and Utah) as the “top 12 best teams” to compare head to head records against the “top 12”:
tOSU 1-0
Indiana 1-0
Georgia 2-1
Tech 2-0
Oregon 0-1
Miss 1-1
A&M 1-1
OU 1-2
Bama 2-1
ND 0-2
BYU 1-1
Miami 1-0
Texas 3-2
Vandy 0-2
Utah 0-2
Georgia, Tech and Bama could make a run. Those that haven’t played as many top teams are somewhat debatable. And some of these teams have no fucking business being in the mix.
I actually think tOSU with their “lackluster” win against us is questionable to win it all and repeat.
In short, total wins, and really losses, matter most at the end of the committee selection days