Playoff committee math: the two-loss team that still gets in

The expanded bracket was supposed to end the debates. It has only moved them down the board.

The committee has leaned on strength of record over head-to-head in three of its last four rankings, and that preference has a two-loss conference champion sitting comfortably inside the field.

The teams behind it have better résumés on paper and worse ones by metric. That distinction is going to decide at least one seed line.

A single upset in championship weekend collapses the entire model.