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

Northwestern would get the auto-bid of course.

That doesn't appear to be the direction we are heading, but anything is possible I suppose.

well, with 4 or 6 teams allowed there is going to be a team in there that isn't great

for example:  last season #4 Washington lost by 17 and #3 OSU lost by 31 in the first round

How would you personally rank a team that started out "house afire" and won 8 straight over some top level teams and then had injuries and lost the next 3 to midlevel teams?  They are 8-3 now, not that impressive, but they also have 3-4 impressive wins, early in the season, and an 'excuse".  Body of work?  Or how they are now?

Consider whether the injuries are season ending versys "out for three weeks".

In a less dramatic situation perhaps, imagine a team looks great, has two key injuries, and loses two late season games to finish 11-2, but the players are supposed to be back in 3 weeks.  Take Alabama as an example, great looking team, 3 critical injuries and they lose to Auburn and UGA to finish 11-2, do they merit consideration for the playoff or not?

I tend to shy away from the time aspect. They just play so few games. Things shift so much. Trends are a little about perception. I know some people like them, but ones I like more don’t. 
I like to rank teams by resume, at least after 6-7 games. When you say “who would win on a neutral,” I’d call those ratings. 
On Bama in that case, I don’t consider them unless I’m short on contenders. There could be a year where that happens (this year), but the games you lose count. Count for Bama, count for everyone. I consider them, but not ahead of a lot of other teams. 

It would be ironic to rank a team that was 10-2 but playing really well at the end of the season after a 1-2 start at say 10th and another team that was 11-1 but had sketchy wins and one bad loss say 7th, if most folks figured the first team would beat the second team handily.

Ironic may not be the best word.  Why do we rank teams?  Obviously one reason is to make the top bowl/playoff pairings, but why else?  Why doesn't anyone care about the AP poll?  Does it not relate to who would beat who in a NF?

I realize match ups can play a role in this calculus.  This is why a "Power Poll" can differ from a "regular poll" if the former is based more on who would beat who.

But polls don't really provide guidelines you just vote however you want.  At least the committee has a kind of guideline although it's not clear what it means.

unfortunately this leads MOST teams to schedule lightly in September

FIFY

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Notre Dame
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Oklahoma
7. West Virginia
8. Michigan
9. UCF
10. Washington