...they have to have been the best at getting through the game as it is- that includes winning the games you have to win, not losing (or only losing once, and not badly), and a host of others. As much as I hate the "any given sunday" BS, there is a kernel of truth in that pile, which is that there IS a lot of variability and luck and uncertainty in any given game; we dont play "best of y of x" series in football; the result is the result. Everyone knows this going into the Game, and into each season. Its not a surprise that you have to win to be the champ, and you especially have to win the games that matter to be the champ. So, NO, you can't have lost the important game (divisional champ, or conf champ) and still claim to be The Best / The Champ in some fashion, because the glory of Football (college or otherwise) is precisely that fact that you have to Win or Go Home. Every time that ESPN/Disney breaks this rule/trust to get Alabama back into the championship game after failing to do their job (win the important games), the game is diminished.

So thats why Clemson would have to be ineligible for the playoffs if they lost to 8-5 Pitt. Because they didnt do what champions do- win the games they have to win. Thats why its definitional.