the Committee's perception of each team and their schedule? For example Arkansas (4-8) may be perceived to be a "stronger" opponent than South Florida (10-2) or Memphis (10-3) simply because Arkansas is a P5 school and in the SEC. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that Alabama would have been "better" than UCF on a given day or UCF would have been "better than Alabama on a given day.

Even if UCF did beat Alabama, then it wouldn't surprise me if the media would make excuses for Alabama's loss (i.e. "UCF may have been better that day, but they wouldn't have survived the murderous row of the SEC." "Alabama wasn't mentally into the game because the players felt they deserved a higher seeding in the Playoff" in reference to Alabama's Sugar Bowl loss to an undefeated Utah team).