Just a comment on the selection processes: we have ALWAYS had bad polling placement, and we ALWAYS WILL have bad polling placement. But let's also be clear that the rankings we have NOW are substantially better than they used to be, too. Whether we have the SIDs, the BCS (2/3 human, 1/3 computer), or the committee, people are going to be taking an interest - which is exactly why Alan Gould began the AP Poll in 1936. I don't think there's a single poll where at least 20 teams were ranked where they don't have a team ranked ahead of a team that lost H2H to another team.
Just a few of the more egregious examples:
HUMAN POLLS (AP)
1980 Final Ranking
2) Pitt (11-1)
5) Florida State (10-2)
Florida State played a tougher schedule AND beat Pitt, 36-22, in mid-October - the week after beating #3 Nebraska, whose only other loss in 1980 was to 10-2 Oklahoma by four. One could also argue placing Miami one spot ahead of Mississippi State, who beat the Hurricanes IN MIAMI the same day FSU beat Pitt.
1982 Final Ranking
12) Ohio State (9-3)
13) Florida State (9-3)
The Noles plowed the Buckeyes, 34-17, in Columbus, and Ohio St lost to TWO unranked teams (Stanford and Wisky) while FSU lost to one (Pitt, who were #2 at the time) and beat two ranked teams. But Ohio State - at that time - was the blue bloood and FSU wasn't yet in the national consciousness.
1983 Final Ranking
9) Ohio State (9-3)
10) Illinois (10-2)
14) Iowa (9-3)
Ohio State loses to Iowa by six on the road, maybe not the most egregious point as both were 9-3.
But they also lost to Illinois by four on the road AND Illinois has fewer losses and went to the Rose Bowl.
Why did this happen? Because Ohio State won their bowl game and the other two lost theirs, Illinois by 36 points to 6-4-1 UCLA.
1984 Final Ranking
4) Nebraska (10-2)
6) Oklahoma (9-2-1)
Oklahoma beat the Huskers, 17-7, in Lincoln but THEN THEY WERE UNDULY PUNISHED because they got Washington in the Orange Bowl and Nebraska crushed LSU in the Sugar.
1985 In-Season Rankings And Final Rankings
#3 Oklahoma loses AT HOME to UNRANKED Miami, who enters the poll the next week at #15.
Miami NEVER moves above Oklahoma, setting up a Penn State vs OU national title game in the Orange Bowl and leaving Miami to scream - and not show up to play Tennessee, either. Oklahoma - common in the 80s - had yet another season where they played nobody but Nebraska and still couldn't run the table (though Miami did turn out to be good for awhile there). Florida also beat Tennessee and had a better record but finished one spot below the Vols. And Texas A/M (10-2) - despite a 23-10 loss to Alabama - finished sixth with Alabama (9-2-1) finishing at 13.
1989 Final Rankings
5) Tennessee (11-1)
9) Alabama (10-2)
Alabama is unduly punished for having to play national champion Miami, a game possible because Alabama barely scraped by the Vols, 47-30.
1990 Final Rankings
16) Michigan State 8-3-1
25) Illinois 8-4
OK, not only did Illinois beat Sparty, 15-13, they were also the ONLY TEAM to beat the national champion Colorado that year. To be nine spots below a team you beat - unduly punished because Clemson killed you, 30-0, in the bowl game - was absurd, too.
1991 Final Rankings
5) Alabama (11-1)
7) Florida (10-2)
13) Notre Dame (10-3)
16) Oklahoma (9-3)
20) Colorado (8-3-1)
Alabama loses, 35-0, to Florida, who winds up with a loss in a much better (and challenging) bowl game, but finishes higher ranked? And it's not like Alabama was impressive that year, either, one win being a 10-7 fright against Memphis. Indeed, Alabama won their last six games by one score. Florida over Notre Dame is a BIT more defensible if you take the "Florida beat Tennessee who beat Notre Dame" route (a specious argument) or the fact Florida beat FSU, thought unstoppable. Florida's best win and worst loss WERE better than Notre Dame's, but still......and Colorado beat OU, 34-17, in Norman while tying the Nebraska team that also beat OU. Colorado got punished for losing by 5 to a top five ranked Alabama team in the Blockbuster Bowl.
Let's fast forward to the BCS Rankings....but note that there is SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT compared to the nonsense prior to the BCS, too. If you don't think the BCS improved these things happening less, just to look at the AP polls for these same years, where you wind up with team after team below another team they beat.
I will spot them in 2001 due to the fact 9/11 resulted in cancellation of the Washington State-Colorado game, which would have made the outcome more fair. Can't blame the BCS for that. However.....
1998 BCS Final Rankings
3) Kansas State (11-1)
6) Texas A/M (11-2)
I won't call this one totally off base, since it was a late K-State collapse, but this is not good. The Ags had played an extra game and one loss was by 9 points to #2 Florida State in the opener. Something tells me if this was a CFP-era ranking sans computers, ATM would be selected over KSU. But please note even the so-called reliable BCS almost always began with NUMBER OF LOSSES, which is why Boise State did well for a few years there.
1999 BCS Final Rankings
8) Michigan (9-2)
9) Michigan St (9-2)
Saban's last Sparty team had beaten Michigan by 3. I'm sure the argument is that Sparty was blown out in their next 2 games by ranked teams, but Michigan barely beat 5-7 N Dame (26-22), barely beat 7-5 Syracuse (by 5), and lost to an Illinois team that Sparty beat by 17. The counter argument - aka the 2024 SCAR argument - is that Michigan beat both teams that plowed Sparty. But Sparty played well in all but the two losses and had the head-to-head....kinda like Alabama this year, plus they beat 9-3 Oregon.
Nobody remembers it because 8 and 9 didn't matter under the two-team BCS.
2001 BCS Final Rankings
5) Florida (9-2)
6) Tennessee (10-2)
But as we know, the Vols lost to LSU, which magically turns their win over Florida to a loss. The Vols rank below Florida ONLY because they had an extra game....because they beat Florida.
2003 BCS Next-To-Last Rankings
1) Oklahoma
Who goes out, loses to Kansas State by a 35-7 shellacking that felt worse than that - and stays #1.
And this right here is why you cannot turn this over to a computer - just like when Notre Dame was given the 2012 national title due to a computer.
2005 BCS Final Rankings
9) Auburn (9-2)
12) LSU (10-2)
LSU beat Auburn, 20-17, at home in overtime. Maybe this is one you can argue H2H is a wash, but fact is that LSU only fell below Auburn because they won that game and had to play UGA - and got rolled. But bear in mind Auburn had a 9-point home loss to 7-5 Ga Tech, which is far worse than losing the SECCG to a good team by any stretch. LSU also scheduled (and beat) then ranked Arizona State and beat #12 Florida as one of their East opponents. They DID lose to the Vols in OT in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but this one seems not the best to me.