2014: tOSU and Alabama didn’t play in the NC but were the two best teams.I think a good case can be made that the 2 best teams have played in each of the past 3 seasons: Bama/Clemson, Clemson/Bama, Bama/UGA. In fact, a good case can be made that OSU and Bama were the two best teams in 2014, though they played in the semifinal. I do strongly believe that the likelihood of having the best team in one of the top 4 is great and that due to the nature of college football that that superiority has a high chance of resulting in 2 wins.
2015: tOSU, Alabama, and Clemson were the best teams, but tOSU’s bad day was more costly than our bad day
2016: Clemson and Bama but the best team didn’t win.
2017: I still believe Oklahoma was better than UGA, but their coaching staff costed them the game. But if you wanna count it then fine.
My issue is with this common notion that the NFL regular season doesn’t mean much or the best teams don’t play for the SB. I just don’t agree when the 1-3 seeds win and go to the SB far more than the 4-6 seeds. They are seeded by regular season performances, and the very idea of the playoffs is to leave no doubt. So a team can’t hide behind being playing in a weak conference like they can in College football. I still maintain that college football doesn’t have a true playoff and still suffers from the same things they suffered with in the BCS.