[ColoradoTree]

I mean, we've lost four games.  Not sure we should feel entitled to a NY6 berth.  This sort of thing--a division runner-up making the NY6 while the conference championship game loser doesn't--happens all the time, and I'm not sure why it's controversial this year.  We won more conference games than Washington did, so we rightfully won the North.  But the committee folks are looking at different set of criteria. 

I dunno.  It's just hard for me to look at our season in retrospective and muster up much outrage that we didn't make the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State or the Fiesta against Penn State.  We could have, and I would have been excited.  But I certainly don't feel like we've had anything stolen from us here. 

And really, the conference seasons did matter.  They mattered for determining the participants in each conference championship game.  Our reward was a chance to play for a championship.  We lost that game, so I guess I just don't see the harm.  Making a major bowl game is a neat thing, but if it's not the playoff or the Rose, then all I really care about is playing a good team in a neat place, in case I decide to make a vacation out of it.  And those boxes are checked here.  This isn't like getting relegated to the Seattle Bowl in 2001 when we were 9th in the BCS!

The much bigger problem, in my view, is that Alabama got the #4 spot, leaving two 2-loss Power 5 conference champions at home.  The committee has talked for years about the importance of strength of schedule and overall resume, with a focus on good wins rather than on the number of losses.  And yes, Ohio State took a bad loss to Iowa, but it also had a much stronger set of wins than Alabama did.  (I agreed with most pundits that USC's resume wasn't as deserving.)  But by picking Alabama, they confirmed that, much like a particular trophy awarded in New York, the rationale used to select the top 4 teams is awfully flexible, with conference champions taking precedence over teams winning the eye test one year, and the reverse happening the next. 

[ColoradoTree]

I mean, we've lost four games.  Not sure we should feel entitled to a NY6 berth.  This sort of thing--a division runner-up making the NY6 while the conference championship game loser doesn't--happens all the time, and I'm not sure why it's controversial this year.  We won more conference games than Washington did, so we rightfully won the North.  But the committee folks are looking at different set of criteria. 

I dunno.  It's just hard for me to look at our season in retrospective and muster up much outrage that we didn't make the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State or the Fiesta against Penn State.  We could have, and I would have been excited.  But I certainly don't feel like we've had anything stolen from us here. 

And really, the conference seasons did matter.  They mattered for determining the participants in each conference championship game.  Our reward was a chance to play for a championship.  We lost that game, so I guess I just don't see the harm.  Making a major bowl game is a neat thing, but if it's not the playoff or the Rose, then all I really care about is playing a good team in a neat place, in case I decide to make a vacation out of it.  And those boxes are checked here.  This isn't like getting relegated to the Seattle Bowl in 2001 when we were 9th in the BCS!

The much bigger problem, in my view, is that Alabama got the #4 spot, leaving two 2-loss Power 5 conference champions at home.  The committee has talked for years about the importance of strength of schedule and overall resume, with a focus on good wins rather than on the number of losses.  And yes, Ohio State took a bad loss to Iowa, but it also had a much stronger set of wins than Alabama did.  (I agreed with most pundits that USC's resume wasn't as deserving.)  But by picking Alabama, they confirmed that, much like a particular trophy awarded in New York, the rationale used to select the top 4 teams is awfully flexible, with conference champions taking precedence over teams winning the eye test one year, and the reverse happening the next.