of the one loss teams
Ooga has the advantage imHo- losing to a team they returned to beat.
OU is in a very very close second with a inexplicable loss to surging Iowa State
Bama lost to the 'same' team that beat UGA but lost to sara-excuse, but bruised them enough that UGA could beat them.
Wiscy lost to a surging tOSU and not by a lot- a lot less than most expected, actually.
Clemson lost to sara-excused, BUT beat Auburn, which is a 'good' win.
of those teams, the most common proxy is Auburn. Auburn played 3 of the 4 in the playoff.. proxy is about dumb, because things change from day to day- consistency is what rates rewards... just thought i'd toss that in there..
Auburn was hot at the end of the year, and nowhere near the team that was beaten by Clemson nor LSU... I'd argue that tOSU was hot at the end of the year and at times during the year- but they were hot and cold NOT consistent. Wiscy was consistent throughout the season to include the CCG where they gave tOSU enough grief to make the game interesting. They weren't 'hot', they were consistent. OU played consistent all season but caught a flashing Iowa State team at the same time they played arguably the worst game of the season. Clemson lost to sillycuse- and has no excuse- 'cuse wasn't flashing, nor were they consistent (in a good way)- Clemson did lose their starting QB in that game, but does a QB a 'team' make (while playing a scrub)?
i decided to offer this comment it's own paragraph: Georgia has played consistent except for one game, and that is the game they lost. they simply weren't playing with the cohesion they'd played with all season in that game (you should have witnessed it if you've watched at least four of their game- choose any three, and then that loss). it could be said that lack of cohesion was auburn breaking them up, but could be said UGA simply showed a lack of consistency.... i'm not willing to burn them for this, because they got what others usually don't get, which is to play the team that whooped them again.... and win...
bama lost to a surging 'hot' auburn. they also got all they could get from MSU and still slink away with a win. that's two games they weren't consistent- could be argued 'because of LB's being injured' and maybe there is truth in that- but... it's bama... they have no excuse based on personnel when they lose. so... nope.... lump them in 'inconsistent' group.
grading with consistency as the principle determination and weighing the quality of loss, it's pretty clear to me that the committee got it right, but possibly not the seeds. it should be a split between OU and Georgia sharing #1, and then Bama.... over clemson- because: Syracuse... those last four letters in their name is as close to an excuse clemson should get.
i'm joining UGA and OU as they both lost to legitimate surging teams.