i think there were fair arguments to be made for TCU and Ohio State and Baylor. That the committee chose Ohio State in that instance doesn't necessarily mean the committee based its decision on the brand name.
Sure, but the simplest answer is usually the correct one.
i think the simplest answer is Ohio State won 12 games including an ass whipping of Wisconsin in the CCG, while TCU/Baylor only won 11 without playing a CCG.
TCU and Baylor both had better wins and neither lost to a team as bad as Virginia Tech, though. Baylor should have been in and would have if they were Oklahoma or Texas. You just have to look at how humans always do this. Texas and Nebraska will both be preseason top 25 teams next year.
I don't get your soapbox at all. Baylor lost to 7-6 WVU. Ohio State lost to 7-6 VT. TCU lost the head to head against Baylor. Everyone's SOS was relatively on par.
Anyone who says "TCU/Baylor/Ohio State were definitely the most deserving in 2014" is kidding themselves. The committee made their choice, and there were reasonable ways for them to get there (most notably, playing and winning a CCG). Citing 2014 as "brand bias" is fine if that's what you want to do, but I don't really view the 2014 episode, alone, as compelling evidence of it.
Sure, if you ignore every other college football season, 2014 alone isn't evidence of anything. It's laughable to actually believe that major programs are not going to get every benefit of the doubt over schools like Baylor, though. It's just human nature, and there are examples of it happening in ranking polls every week.
Wait are we talking about mid majors? I thought we were talking about Elite Brands vs. K-State level brands w/r/t CFP invites.
The only example that comes close to supporting that, as far as I'm aware, is 2014, which i think is lousy evidence.
When the committee was announced, i was certainly ready to criticize it for being biased garbage, but after 8 years, I don't really have much of a problem with anything they've done.