Five Takeaways: Conference Championship Week

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Note: Given the light slate during conference championship week, I'm slimming the takeaways from ten to five in this edition.

1. I don't have it in me to argue over the final non-AQ spots in a 12-team playoff

What made arguments about the BCS and four-team playoff so heated and real was that every team involved in them had a legitimate case to compete for the national championship. Take last year, for example. The committee's decision came down to a 13-0, conference-champion with a major QB injury in Florida State, and a 12-1 Alabama who had just knocked off the undefeated, back-to-back national champions in the SEC Title. Whether you think the committee picking Alabama was fair or not, the Tide's resume was more than worthy of a shot at playing for it all.

We saw similar situations play out over the course of the four-team playoff (Ohio State over TCU/Baylor in 2014) and the BCS (Florida over Michigan in 2006, Alabama over Oklahoma State in 2011.). Every one of those teams had real merit based on their on-field performance. That isn't the reality in this new 12-team system, and it's why I can't bring myself to join in any uproar about who got left out.

Alabama lost three games. Two of them were to 6-6 teams in Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. Miami's best win of the season is either Florida or Louisville. They were inconsistent all year, and lost two of their final three when they had everything to play for. Ole Miss lost three games, one of which was Kentucky's only SEC win. South Carolina also lost three games, two of which were (in hindsight) essentially playoff eliminators to Alabama and Ole Miss.

Are any of those four teams that far off from the ones who got in over them? No! Is that enough to make me think they got screwed? Also no! I wouldn't have been upset if any of them got in, but there are enough flaws on each of their resumes that their coaches, players, and fanbases kicking and screaming about it holds no weight to me. I've always hated the idea of two-loss teams getting a shot at the title, (no matter the system), so I can't even pretend to care about three-loss teams crying about being excluded. It's as simple as that, and it doesn't matter which team it is.

2. First round playoff matchup thoughts

• Indiana (10) at Notre Dame (7) - Friday, December 20 - 8:00 PM ET (ABC)

No matter how much I dislike the 12-team format, matchups like this are what it was built for. It's hard to believe that these two in-state programs haven't played each other since 1991, or that this will be Notre Dame's first home game broadcast outside of NBC since 1990. How Indiana's high-octane offense fares against the Irish's strong defense might be my favorite battle among the first round games.