look at oregon and stanford this year and last year. last year stanford only had 1 loss but it was to oregon so oregon got to play UCLA in the pac 12 title game and this year oregon has 1 loss but stanford got to play UCLA in the pac 12 title game. oregon last year lost to LSU that was #1 going into the title game, this year stanford lost to notre dame that is #1 going into the title game lol