Post Season – BYU ends up #3 in CFP rankings. Which look like this:

#1 Auburn (12-1, SEC champ)
#2 tOSU (12-1, B1G champ)
#3 BYU (12-0, Indy)
#4 ASU (12-2, Pac12 champ)
#5 TCU (11-1, Big12 “champ”)
#6 MSU (11-1, B1G runner up)
#7 GT (11-2, ACC champ)
#8 ND (10-2, Indy) (losses to GT and @Clem…thanks a lot ACC!)
#9 Baylor (11-1, Big12 runner up)
#10 LSU (10-2, SEC west runner up)
#11 USC (10-2, P12S runner up)
#12 OU (11-1, Big12 runner up)
#13 Mich (9-3, B1G)
#14 BSU (11-2, MWC champs)
#15 Oregon (10-3, P12N champ)
#16 Mizzou (10-3, SECE champ)
#17 Clem (9-3, ACC runner up)

Over the course of 3 of the last 4 weeks of the season, the Big12 screwed themselves over again by having OU/Baylor/TCU split games thus knocking all of them down a bit and creating another tie. This tie breaker could not be broken by going to record vs next best team(s) (OkState) because they were all 1-0 vs OSU so they went with point differential, which crowned TCU the champ because they beat Baylor 41-34 and only lost to OU 39-37. (Baylor beat OU 51-41, so the total point diff was OU -8, Bay +3, TCU +5). So, in another PR nightmare, Big12 champ is now decided by some pain-staking mathematics, instead of a CCG. The CFP committee again comes out and publicly states this affected rankings. ND is also publicly upset that the 2 games that kept them out where ACC games and feel something new is in order.

Auburn is the beneficiary of OSU’s stumble to end the season against Michigan. As SEC champ they vault to #1, bringing many to proclaim they are over-rated like Bama was last year. Ohio State split 2 crazy games with the Michigan schools, including an epic 3 point victory over Sparty in overtime. But somehow they lost to a solid 9-3 Michigan team in Ann Arbor…the Jim Harbaugh statue is being sculpted as we speak. They were the unquestioned #1 team until that loss and won tie-breaker to get to B1G champ game where they smoked Nebraska, which helped them stay at #2 after surrendering their season-long stronghold on the #1. The committee adds ASU into the #4 spot after they win the P12 championship in impressive fashion over a solid Oregon team. Afterwards the justification was “they were the best team from what we believe was the best conference this year in college football…they deserve a top 4 ranking in CFP.” Now the big debate over how BYU got in at #3 begins…the ACC was dubbed the weakest of the P5 and GT, while impressive in some games (win @ND) lost at Duke the week after and stumbled the last week of the season to a revenge-minded UGA team.

Ultimately, the CFP fails to remove BYU from top 4, in what some believe was simply a PR move to generate crazy amounts of rampant speculation and force expansion of the playoff (and maybe even the Big 12, if they are smart enough to take the hint…they sure weren’t in 2014.) The B12 is snubbed, again, and Gary Patterson comes out and goes on a rampage on Mike and Mike the next morning. CFP director states afterwards, “after hours of debate we took the names and logos away and simply looked at numbers and resumes…BYU beat more ranked teams, had a higher SOS, had higher analytic #’s and was ranked higher in the computers than any Big12 team or any other P5 team…they deserve to be in.” Brett McMurphey asked a follow up question that really made headlines when he asked “what if TCU played Baylor or OU again…or even BYU in a championship game?” and the director stated, “we crunched those numbers, just for fun, and they would have come out higher in almost every single computer number we use…that could have changed things up…the Big12 needs to consider who they are moving forward and the non-monetary benefits of a CCG.”