the Holiday Bowl, that's why they didn't go. Florida or Oklahoma would have won it by winning a bigger bowl game. Washington's only hope was to hope BYU lost to Michigan and then take care of business in the Orange Bowl, which they did. Michigan let them down.
I have no issues with BYU getting the title, but it wasn't that easy for Washington to just play BYU. The tougher game was seen as the orange bowl vs Oklahoma, even without the money.
It's a vote anyway. College football is stupid.