After a day in which four of the top 10 teams in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings lost, it is fair to ask how anyone can know which teams are good enough to qualify for the Playoff.
So much punditry involves picking apart teams’ weak schedules, close home wins and mitigating circumstances that it makes one suspect that the answer might be none of them.
To begin with, the Pacific-12 Conference probably ended its run this season as the home of a Playoff contender. Last year, it had a one-loss champion, Oregon, that reached the title game.