I can see some "logic" in their decisions even if I might choose differently. I can't think of an egregious selection or omission in the past, just some that could have been otherwise (often more evident after the fact). What's the worst choice they ever made?
I agree with this.
If you go through their decisions and look at the annual controversies:
2014:
A lot of people will argue that tOSU got in over TCU/Baylor due to "helmet". My argument is that you can see the logic behind this WITHOUT resorting to "helmet". The B12 didn't have a CG which hurt their top teams' SoS relative to tOSU because at the end of the year Ohio State played an extra game against a really good Wisconsin team. That gave tOSU a SoS edge over either TCU or Baylor. The bigger problem for the B12 teams was that their league declared Baylor to be the Champion based on their H2H win over TCU. I think the committee felt bound by that and league titles are one of the listed factors they are to consider so I think they felt bound to "credit" Baylor with the B12 Title and thus put them ahead of TCU. The reason that was a problem was because if you compare TCU to tOSU it is a close call. TCU has a better win against a common opponent (Minnesota) and a MUCH better loss but doesn't have as good of wins and has a slightly weaker schedule. I don't think the committee ever made that comparison, it wasn't relevant. Baylor was the B12 Champion and Ohio State was the B1G Champion so those two were compared and that is no comparison. Ohio State wins that resume contest EASILY. Baylor had an equivalent loss and a MUCH weaker SoS.
2015:
I'd have loved to see my Defending National Champion Buckeyes in but they weren't a league Champion so what arguments can even be made here? I could see
@OrangeAfroMan arguing that tOSU was "better" than MSU but the fact that they lost to them at home kinda kiboshes that argument even though I think they were.
2016:
Penn State's argument here is that they beat the Buckeyes H2H and won the B1G but they also lost to a mediocre Pitt team and got absolutely obliterated by a Michigan team that tOSU beat. Even if you don't agree that this should be the criteria, it is pretty hard to disagree with the argument that tOSU's overall resume was better than PSU's since PSU's losses were both worse and more numerous.
2017:
The argument here would be for an 11-2 B1G Champion Ohio State team over an 11-1 Alabama team that missed the SECCG. If you think league titles are the end-all-be-all, then that is the end of it, tOSU should be in and Bama out. However, there is a pretty clear logical argument that Bama's overall resume with their one loss to a very good Auburn team on the road was better than tOSU's overall resume with a similar loss to Oklahoma (only that was at home) and a blowout loss to a mediocre Iowa team.
2018:
I see this as possibly the least controversial of the selections. Bama, Clemson, and ND were all undefeated and obvious selections. After that, Oklahoma and tOSU were both 12-1 P5 Champs but that was a pretty easy decision since Oklahoma's loss was close, at a neutral site, to a great team, and subsequently avenged in their CG while tOSU's loss was not close, nor to a great team, not subsequently avenged.
2019:
This was probably the least controversial selection of the entire 4-team CFP era. LSU, tOSU, and Clemson were all undefeated P5 Champs while Oklahoma was a 12-1 P5 Champ. The next best argument was for a 2-loss team and that argument wouldn't be very good.
2020:
The best argument for a team that didn't make it would be for aTm. The argument is that they only lost once and that their loss was to a REALLY good team and on the road. All that is true, but they also got drilled. It isn't like they lost by a FG in Tuscaloosa, they lost by four TD's.
2021:
I think that including Cincy was a joke and I know Fro agrees but the problem is that the next best team was Notre Dame and Notre Dame lost at home to Cincy.
2022:
I generally agree with Fro's view of the TCU team that got in but the argument for taking them over a team with more losses that didn't make a CG is pretty obvious.
2023:
There is obviously an argument for 13-0 FSU but the argument against them is that they were a different team without their QB and their SoS even with the OOC game against LSU was shaky because the ACC was garbage. You don't have to agree with it to see that argument.
