Utah showed the vulnerability of the current system, in which a paper tiger can be built up and then smacked down the minute they play a tough opponent.

Neither rankings or the CFP have an objective way to take into account strength of schedule, benefits of extra home games, benefits of conference affiliation, etc., etc., etc. Even the CFP committee is handicapped by rankings because they use them as a tool to build the first CFP rankings each October. One of the most glaring weaknesses of both is that both try to subjectively give a team credit for a "good" loss. Getting the crap beat out of you is not "good" no matter who the opponent is.

In reality, the ranking system and the CFP are nothing more than a glorified beauty pageant, and will continue to be so, until rankings go away until after every team has played 6 games and until all conference champions have a legitimate, fair shot to make the playoffs.