When the College Football Playoff committee released its final rankings and playoff bracket on Sunday, there was a massive controversy among fans of college football over who should get the final spot in the playoffs, with Southern Methodist, Alabama and South Carolina all believing they should hold a spot in the playoffs.

Ultimately, the committee chose SMU, giving them the nod for reaching the ACC Championship game where they lost by three to Clemson. Alabama and South Carolina failed to reach the SEC Championship game.

The way I see it, the committee had a choice. Either the best 12 teams get in, or the most deserving 12 teams get in. The committee went with the most deserving, and I will not necessarily fault them for it.

That’s not to say I don’t have issues with the seeds. Personally, I am a believer that head-to-head games matter. Ohio State (10-2) and Penn State (11-2) have the same amount of losses and both lost a close game to Oregon. Penn State is ranked No. 6 and Ohio State No. 8 and if you are going off the records, that makes sense. The problem is Ohio State beat Penn State head-to-head, and played a harder overall schedule. Ohio State’s two best wins are against No. 6 Penn State and No. 10 Indiana, while Penn State’s best wins are against No. 20 Illinois and unranked Washington. The only argument for Penn State over Ohio State in this case is that the Nittany Lions won 11 games versus the Buckeyes who won ten. But when Penn State played a much easier schedule, how is that fair to the Buckeyes?

My other disagreement with the committee is the seeding of Clemson and SMU. Once again, I feel the committee should have taken head-to-head results into account. SMU (11-2) is ranked No. 11, one spot ahead of Clemson (10-3). The problem is that Clemson just beat SMU to win the ACC Title. Why should SMU remain ahead of Clemson if they lost to Clemson the day prior? To me, that does not compute very well.

Either way, I agree that the twelve teams in the playoffs are the most deserving twelve teams. They did what they had to do, won the games they needed to win and thus they are in.

Here’s where it gets tricky, and where the major controversy begins: the most deserving twelve are not necessarily the best twelve.

Alabama beat Georgia, and played the 10th hardest schedule in the country. While they went 9-3, their body of work is clearly better than that of SMU, who did not beat a single ranked opponent (Alabama beat three). I absolutely understand the argument that Alabama is better than SMU and thus should be in the playoffs over SMU. The problem with that mindset is it opens the door to a very slippery slope.

If 9-3 Alabama is better than 11-2 SMU, why is 9-3 Ole Miss not better than 11-1 Indiana? Ole Miss was undefeated (2-0) against ranked opponents, while Indiana only played one ranked team and lost by three scores. If SMU deserves to be out of the playoffs because they played an easy schedule, shouldn’t the same standard apply for Indiana? While we are at it, let’s talk about Notre Dame, who also played just a single-ranked team. While Notre Dame did crush Army, it is hard to really claim the Irish played a tough schedule. Might as well remove Indiana, Notre Dame and SMU and replace them with South Carolina, Ole Miss and Alabama in this case.

If the CFP had chosen to go that route and really pick the twelve best teams, I would have respected that choice. I do believe that Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina are better than SMU and the Indiana schools. Hell, BYU finished 10-2 and defeated SMU by three in Texas. Perhaps BYU should also be in over SMU? If the committee wanted to give bids to the twelve best, I would have been okay with it, as long as they stayed consistent. I would not have been okay with Alabama getting in if Ole Miss and South Carolina were left out. The way I see it, it should have been all or nothing.

The CFP chose none of them. Instead of purely letting the twelve best schools into the playoff, the CFP opted to include the ones who deserved it more. Winning eleven games is hard, regardless of how hard of a schedule you play, and CFP committee decided to honor that. The precedent set by yesterday’s playoff reveal is winning eleven games in a power conference (or as Notre Dame) is enough to punch your ticket to the playoff, regardless of schedule. This year, there were seven power conference teams that won 11 or more games, plus independent Notre Dame and future Pac-12 representative Boise State. All nine of those teams were given a playoff berth, even SMU and Indiana, who lacked a signature ranked win.

The CFP committee sent a message. Win 11 games and be a playoff team. Win 10 games as a member of the SEC or BIG 10and you have a great chance. But lose a third game and you are out, no matter how good your resume or how difficult your schedule.

And the truth is, I am perfectly okay with that. The bottom line is no matter who ends up in seeds 6-12, there are really only 3-5 true contenders for the title. Oregon and Georgia are the clear top teams in college football. Texas and Ohio State are probably the only teams who could realistically knock them off. The semifinals will likely end up being the same as they would be had college football decided to keep the four-team playoff format.

Which is why I honestly do not care that the best 12 teams get in. I like that Arizona State, Boise State and Clemson get to be in the playoffs due to their conference titles. It makes the conference title games worth watching and keeps more fanbases invested, particularly the more casual fans. I also like that a team like Indiana or SMU, who have not had much glory at all, gets a chance to be in the spotlight, even if they might get blown out. The truth is although Alabama might be better than Indiana, neither of those teams is beating Oregon anyway. So why not give the little guy a chance for once?

The CFP may not have included the best 12 teams, but they included the most deserving ones and for that, I applaud them.

Note: If I was ranking the teams from best to worst, this would be my order

1. Oregon 13-0
2. Georgia 11-2
3. Texas 11-2
4. Ohio State 10-2
5. Penn State 11-2
6. Tennessee 10-2
7. Ole Miss 9-3
8. Alabama 9-3
9. South Carolina 9-3
10. Arizona State 10-2
11. BYU 10-2
12. Boise State 12-1
13. Notre Dame 11-1
14. Indiana 11-1
15. Clemson 10-3
16. SMU 11-2
17. Syracuse 9-3
18. Miami 10-2
19. Missouri 9-3
20. Iowa State 10-3