I'm going to use the square number 16 to draw a line at elite/good/top teams. Yes, we keep in mind those just outside this top 16 are tough opponents, but whether the line is drawn at 16 or 25 or bowl teams or .500+ or wherever, a line is drawn.
big win = win over top 16 team
good loss = loss vs top 16 team (regardless of score, this is just about team quality atm)
bad loss = loss vs team not close to top 16 (~outside top 24)
okay loss = loss vs team just outside top 16 (~17-24 or so)
tie-breaker = wins vs teams just outside top 16 (17-24)
Looking at resumes:
Ohio State only has 1 "big" win (+31 vs WIS). No losses.
LSU has 3 big wins (+14 vs FLA, +3 vs AUB, +5 vs ALA). No losses.
Alabama has no big wins. 1 loss ("good" loss: -5 vs LSU).
Clemson has no big wins. No losses.
Penn State has 1 big win (+7 vs UM). 1 loss (good loss: -5 vs MINN).
Georgia has 2 big wins (+6 vs ND, +7 vs FLA). 1 loss (bad loss: -3 vs USCe).
Oregon has no big wins. 1 loss (good loss: -6 vs AUB).
Oklahoma has no big wins. 1 loss (okay loss: -7 vs KSU).
Utah has no big wins. 1 loss (bad loss: -7 vs USCw).
Florida has 1 big win (+11 vs AUB). 2 losses (good loss: -14 vs LSU, good loss: -7 vs UGA).
Baylor has no big wins. No losses.
Auburn has 1 big win (+6 vs ORE). 2 losses (good loss: -11 vs FLA, good loss: -3 vs LSU).
Minnesota has 1 big win (+5 vs PSU). No losses.
Wisconsin has 1 big win (+21 vs UM). 2 losses (bad loss: -1 vs ILL, good loss: -31 vs OSU).
Michigan has 1 big win (+31 vs ND). 2 losses (good loss: -21 vs WIS, good loss: -7 vs PSU).
Notre Dame has no big wins. 2 losses (good loss: -6 vs UGA, good loss: -31 vs UM).
Instead of ranking teams by number of losses, why not rank them by a +/- system of big wins and good/okay/bad losses?
LSU at +3 is at the top, obviously.
Then we have a group at +1: OSU, Georgia, and Minnesota
At 0, we have Clemson, Penn St, and Baylor.
-1: Alabama, Oregon, OU, Utah, Florida, Auburn, Wisconsin, and UM.
-2: ND
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I'll choose to reward SOS, so if teams have the same +/-, the team with big wins/loss(es) will be ranked higher. If it's the same, we'll just default to how their ordered.
1. LSU
2. Georgia
3. Ohio St
4. Minnesota
5. Penn St
6. Clemson
7. Baylor
8. Florida
9. Auburn
10. Wisconsin
11. Michigan
12. Alabama
13. Oregon
14. Oklahoma
15. Utah
16. ND
This really rewards the Gophers finally playing someone and beating them. This also ignores when big wins and losses took place (which I think is a good thing).
So that's resume, in my own time-wasting, silly way of doing it. Now for eye test. This is where I'll take into account MOV and who I think would win if they played today at a neutral site. You could say this is my attempt at who would be favored if they played now.
1. LSU
2. OSU
3. Alabama
4. Clemson
5. Georgia
6. Penn St
7. Florida
8. Auburn
9. Oregon
10. Oklahoma
11. Wisconsin
12. Minnesota
13. Michigan
14. Baylor
15. Utah
16. ND
I think valid rankings should include a mixture of objective and subjective. This is easy to do here, with one of each and just averaging them out. No, these are not "correct" as there is no correct, but it's fun to do and it's Sunday morning - time to kill between filling orders for Whoa Nellie.