I don't agree that should be a rule, but I personally would give more "credit" to conference champions that they appear to do.
We have had champions in the past who were 10-3 or 9-4. I would not choose them over an 11-1 P5 team that had a narrow loss. I'd look for the four best teams for the playoff. I'd lean to an 11-2 champ over an 11-1 at large unless the 11-1 team had run a real gauntlet.
i'd agree with this, but add that the 11-2 can't have a completely inexcusable loss. like if au had beated uga in seccg, i don't think they should have been left out for a 1-loss non-conf team like bama was.
and au and osu schedules were similar.
both lost a respectable game vs a top 5 team (osu at home vs oklahoma, au on road @ clemson)
both played other really good teams and won (au had bama and uga, osu had psu and msu)
both trounced most of the rest of their schedule, except...
au lost a close game to an ok lsu team by 1 point, osu got blownout vs an ok team in iowa by 31
if that osu loss was similar to that au loss, then i'd have no problem with them over any other 1-loss non-conf champ. but that type loss is just inexcusable to me.
also, bbts, how do you not have au as a good sec team? they played 3 cfp teams that year in reg season and went 2-1.