You're playing the role of a prognosticator during that season. It's December 9th, 1992, and you're being asked to pick a winner of the playoff for that season.
As for knowing the outcome of a game and using it to predict the winner of a matchup of the same 2 teams, well, I guess that depends on the person. Alabama beat Miami 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl that year. Some people might think if they played again 10 times, Alabama would usually win by 20, and some might even think the Tide would win again by that same score.
I happen to think they could play 100 times and that score wouldn't be repeated. A 34-13 score in a game actually played might lead someone to think Alabama would beat Miami 8 out of 10 or something like that, but it's probably closer to 6 out of 10, imo.
Anyways, the reason we're ignoring the bowl outcomes is that using them takes it out of your hands and you have less to "chew on". If you happen to think a bowl outcome was odd and you think it would go down differently if played again, then here's your chance to say so and predict as such. For the Sugar Bowl specifically, what if George Teague hadn't run down Lamar Thomas and stripped him? What if Miami scores there and it opens up the offense for the rest of the game? What if Teague didn't have a pick-6 right before that? You'd have a 20-13 game instead of 27-6. How often does the same WR fumble twice in a game?
This isn't supposed to be a what-if contest leaning to either team, but I'm trying to show that when what actually happened involves unlikely outcomes here and there, the winner of a game and the margin of victory are...delicate. The important thing is, you can think Alabama was better and pick them to win the "what if" playoff without citing the Sugar Bowl. I don't want anyone to use the outcome of the bowl game, shrug their shoulders, and think "well I guess I have to say Alabama (or Team-X) would win the rematch." No, the team you think would win is who you should choose.