re: FBS Thesis: It was easier for "cinderellas" to win NC in the pre-BCS era

That is a good point. I suppose we need a working definition of what a "cinderella" is.

I had in mind teams from non-major conferences.

If you are in a major conference, you can gain credibility by winning that conference even if nobody expected that team to do well.

This is not really the case for the non-AQs.