[Farm93]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the playoffs were this year.  In many ways I think it would be good for the committee to get together this week and then announce what teams they would select this year.  I say this because I would assume that FSU and Auburn would be in their 4, so the announcement would not create controversy and could help lift some of the uncertainty around their process.

The options for the other two teams would appear to be
Michigan State - 1 loss but in a weak conference
Baylor - 1 loss but terrible OOC
Alabama - 1 loss, but not conference champ or even division champ
Stanford - Toughest schedule, conference champ, but 2 losses.
For kicks one could claim UCF is an option too - 1 loss, beyond terrible conference

My guess is that the Michigan State and Baylor would be selected by virtue of their 1-loss conference champ claim.  Then it would be easy to explain away Alabama and Stanford.  Alabama did not win the division of their conference.  Stanford had two losses.  This way, the committee could then tell everyone that winning the conference was important.  Bama fans could complain, but the lack of an SEC title would be hard to overlook.  Stanford fans could complain but 2 road losses to unranked teams would likely be 1 too many.

FWIW - If Pac-12 Stanford had only 1 loss, then clearly Stanford would qualify for the playoffs next season.
FWIW2 - If Pac-12 Stanford had only 1 loss, then I suspect that the BCS system people and voters would make sure that Auburn jumped over Stanford this year.

[Farm93]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the playoffs were this year.  In many ways I think it would be good for the committee to get together this week and then announce what teams they would select this year.  I say this because I would assume that FSU and Auburn would be in their 4, so the announcement would not create controversy and could help lift some of the uncertainty around their process.

The options for the other two teams would appear to be
Michigan State - 1 loss but in a weak conference
Baylor - 1 loss but terrible OOC
Alabama - 1 loss, but not conference champ or even division champ
Stanford - Toughest schedule, conference champ, but 2 losses.
For kicks one could claim UCF is an option too - 1 loss, beyond terrible conference

My guess is that the Michigan State and Baylor would be selected by virtue of their 1-loss conference champ claim.  Then it would be easy to explain away Alabama and Stanford.  Alabama did not win the division of their conference.  Stanford had two losses.  This way, the committee could then tell everyone that winning the conference was important.  Bama fans could complain, but the lack of an SEC title would be hard to overlook.  Stanford fans could complain but 2 road losses to unranked teams would likely be 1 too many.

FWIW - If Pac-12 Stanford had only 1 loss, then clearly Stanford would qualify for the playoffs next season.
FWIW2 - If Pac-12 Stanford had only 1 loss, then I suspect that the BCS system people and voters would make sure that Auburn jumped over Stanford this year.