And to answer your second question, I think having that game that everyone can see on the final weekend is huge in terms of recognition. Oklahoma had the championship game weekend off, and while that didn't hurt it in this particular situation, it might in a future year when a school can't make one final imprint on a committee. Just look at Ohio State to see how much that matters.

And while there a chance you could potentially knock your best team out of contention, it also provides another marquee game to add to its resume. Say Baylor and TCU played again in 2014-15 and Baylor won (perhaps more convincingly). That might have been enough to push the Bears back into consideration, even with their lousy non-conference slate.

There's no right answer, but I think adding a 13th data point would be helpful in most situations.