Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

If this was something important to you, you'd be arguing the other way.  The argument against taking it seriously and producing your best ranking is...well nobody else does it?  Is that a message you'd send to a kid about something?  

It isn't important to me, or to AP sportswriters, or to coaches, or to anyone else.  They do have important stuff, it's about prioritizing.
And yes, I would send this message to a kid or anyone else, figure out what's really important and focus on that.

The OU at 10 versus 6 "question" is moot anyway.  Maybe they should be 10, maybe 6, maybe higher.  If we accumulate these opinions, as the AP does, then they end up at 8, if there are only two opinions.  If there are 58 opinions, they probably end up 6 or 7.  

And there is currently no metric for deciding which is correct, it's OPINION.  Now, maybe down the road OU wins out and finishes at 5, and then gets hammered in a bowl game, then we might figure 10 was really about right for them, and there they go.

The only relevant rankings are the penultimate ones, or THE penultimate one:

Playoff teams
NY6 teams
bowl teams
not bowl teams.

Where OU is placed NOW means squat, and giving deep thought to whether they should be at 6 or 10 is pointless, to me.

The OU at 10 versus 6 "question" is moot anyway.  Maybe they should be 10, maybe 6, maybe higher.  If we accumulate these opinions, as the AP does, then they end up at 8, if there are only two opinions.  If there are 58 opinions, they probably end up 6 or 7.  

And there is currently no metric for deciding which is correct, it's OPINION.  

This is correct, BUT if we simply listed the teams based on number of losses and where they started in the preseason poll, that rankings list would almost definitely be incorrect.  So that's all I'm harping on - let's not all rank the teams in a manner that is most especially incorrect.

You know what's crazy?  
UCF will likely have won 25 straight games AND not deserve a playoff spot.

What's more crazy is they are probably legitimately the best football team in the state of Florida.
Florida State and Miami both just suck. Florida is playing with a depleted secondary and terrible QB.
I think UCF would beat all 3 of those teams on a neutral site. I know for sure they'd whoop Florida State and Miami.

I'm amused by the Michigan over Notre Dame crowd.

Let's go to the tape. Head-to-head: ND had the win.

But Michigan has improved so much! Not ND, though--despite replacing their quarterback (the one who beat Michigan).

Common opponent: Northwestern: Michigan came from behind to win by three at Northwestern. Notre Dame never trailed, built a 14-point lead in the third quarter, and won by ten at Northwestern.

To be fair, Michigan has blown out a lot of teams, and has four wins over P5 teams with winning records, 7-3 Penn State having the best record of the bunch. Notre Dame also has four wins over P5 teams with winning records--and, of course, 9-1 Michigan is one of those.

Michigan does have the better stats, though. So there's that.

Anyway, y'll are entitled to you opinion, and I'm sure this applies to me, too, but your colors are showing. :-)

head to head should matter.
But Michigan is a way different team right now than they were back then. Karran Higdon was hurt early in the season, Patterson was still feeling things out and wasn't really comfortable in the offense or with his receivers. Patterson has really developed in the offense and they are doing more and more with him every week. The QB run wrinkles have really taken the offense to another level when they've used him on those. You saw none of those vs ND. The OL was a complete mess at the beginning of the year. Ed Warriner has flat out done remarkable things with this OL unit that I never thought possible. He really has been all that and then some. If I'm Harbaugh, I give the guy a life-time contract and let him do whatever the hell he wants.
Also: Josh Metellus was out on the first game on a questionable targeting call. As hard as I was on Metellus last year and even parts of this year- he has turned the corner. By far the best safety that Michigan has had in ages. And after seeing Brad Hawkins misjudge a ball he should've intercepted vs ND and then whiff on the angle and not be able to catch up to the Rutgers RB and give up an 80 yard TD run- think it's safe to say Metellus is a vastly underrated part of that defense. Without him that Michigan defense gets significantly worse.
Maybe the biggest X-factor and unknown though for Michigan is Tarik Black. The healthier he gets and the more up to speed he gets, the more dangerous it makes that Michigan passing attack. Nico Collins, Donovan Peoples Jones, Zach Gentry, and Tarik Black are some dudes man. I honestly can't remember seeing a more talented group of receiving options at Michigan ever. You have to go back to Braylon, Avant, and Breaston. And Avant was significantly slower and smaller than Nico, Tarik, and DPJ. Breaston was significantly smaller than all 3 and probably only faster than Nico Collins. And Zach Gentry is a more talented TE than Jake Butt. All 4 of those guys should be NFL draft picks one day.
If Shea and Gentry come back next year and Shea grows in that offense and Harbaugh decides to actually open up the offense- Michigan could have a filthy passing attack in 2019. One of my biggest gripes with the offense this year is they are just way too damn conservative.
As crazy as it sounds because of how terrible they were last year, I think Michigan has really underachieved on offense this year. That pass game should be way better than it is. Especially with Black virtually back to 100% now.

I do happen to think Michigan is better. Because of improvement, in part. But also because the first quarter was so flukey for this defense. And though ND can also argue improvement, they can't also say a reversion to the mean from the first matchup would favor them.
In any event, I pray for a rematch and would expect a multi-score win. But that's just fan emotions. 
The last post was more removed.

ND is better, too, not least because it has upgraded its quarterback play.

Maybe we should all hope for a rematch. :-)