I should point out that while I stated there is a dichotomy between "best teams" and "most deserving", I would point out that there's a different dichotomy sometimes at work here:
One group cares about the results and doesn't necessarily care about the process that gets there.
The other group cares about the process and if the process is sound, accepts whatever the results are.
I fall into the second group. The group that says "show me what I need to accomplish".
Is it going undefeated? Well, in the BCS era it wasn't, as there were several years where there were too many undefeated teams for the system to accommodate.
Is it scheduling tough and winning your CCG, as the committee says is valued? Well, that's what OSU did and if they hadn't lost the tough game they scheduled [that Bama did not] they undoubtedly would have gotten in at 12-1 with a CCG even with the bad loss to Iowa. The committee would have said that the good win outweighs the bad loss, when Bama didn't have any opportunity at good OOC wins. Still, OSU had two top-10 wins while Bama had none, and 3 ranked wins to Bama's 2.
Why do I take it personally? Because I'm not a fan of a helmet school. Purdue will *never* get selected for the CFP unless they go 13-0 with a B1G championship game win. If they get into the championship game at 11-1 and finish 12-1, they will *always* be the odd man out unless there are no other helmets that are close. I honestly believe that if Bama finished with an SEC championship at 11-2, they'd be selected over a team like Purdue in a heartbeat. They'll find a rationale to exclude a non-helmet any time they can possibly justify it. Heck, Wisconsin is a quasi-helmet but an 12-1 B1G Champion Wisconsin (with their schedule) could very easily have been passed over for Alabama based on strength of schedule, which the committee would actually care about when it suits them.
I see huge flaws in the process, to the point where I know the process is a joke and the system is meant to reward helmet. I'd rather have a fair process even if it means some year that Iowa goes 10-3 with an OOC loss, two conference losses (but winning the tiebreaker to make the CCG and winning it) and gets into the playoff as the B1G champion. I value process over results. I'm an engineer, after all
