re: Baylor 2015 non conference schedule

Baylor got left out for two reasons:

1. Their non-conf strength of schedule was awful

2. The Big 12 doesn't have a championship game.

#2 is the biggest reason they're not in the playoff IMO. The conf. championship game is a risk/reward game.

On the one hand a very good team has to risk a possible loss (usually to a really good opponent) in an extra game that another team does not. Ex. 1 loss OSU this year; FSU this year who was the only undefeated team in the reg season; LSU in 2011 who finished undefeated. A loss in the championship game for any of those teams likely would have bumped them out of the National Championship picture in favor of a team that did not have to "lay it all on the line" one more time.

On the other hand, it is an opportunity for a team to boost it resume that a team in conf. without a championship game doesn't get. OSU did EXACTLY that this weekend. If not for the championship game performance, Baylor is in and OSU is out. Florida did the same thing in 2006 while Michigan sat at home. It's what allowed LSU to jump a 10-2 UGA team that was ranked higher than them going into the SECCG