quote:
Penn State played the tougher schedule, beat OSU head-to-head, and won the BIG 10.

Had you switched the resumes, the Committee still would have put in OSU as a two-loss team and they would have hung their hat on head-to-head results and a Conference Championship.

Ohio State probably had the best OOC win that year in beating Oklahoma in an away game. They beat 3 teams that finished ranked in the top 10 and lost to Penn State on the road in a very close game. And I'm not sure where you're getting Penn State as having played the tougher schedule. OSU's SOS was ranked #6 by Sagarin and Penn State's was ranked #34; Congrove had OSU's as #3 and Penn State's as #12.

Penn State lost to a team that finished unranked and were blown out by a team that OSU beat...no team had been selected with two losses before then or after...

The very next year, OSU was a 2-loss conference Big 10 Champion with a blowout loss to an unranked Iowa team; they were left out in favor of a 1-loss non-division/non-conference winning team with a top 10 loss on the road.

I think the committee has been pretty consistent most years and, had the roles been reversed in '16, I think the committee would've chosen Penn State...