Playoff Selections - 12 "Best" or 12 "Best Seasons"

[StevensTechU]

On October 17, Louisville went to Miami, FL and beat the Hurricanes 24-21. They got a lead early on the back of an offensive philosophy that featured multiple quarterbacks and some gadget plays, and benefited from four interceptions by Miami quarterback Carson Beck.

If that was the whole season, Louisville is 1-0 and Miami is 0-1. If the two teams agreed to line it up and play again the following weekend, Louisville would be the underdogs in the eyes of Vegas and the majority of the public.
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What I've always been confused by is what rankings are trying to be. Are they to tell us who the "best" teams are? If that's the case, Miami stays ranked above Louisville in the situation above. Or are rankings a reflection of who is having the best season, so Louisville should be ranked ahead?

Until this gets resolved, we're going to repeat last year's debate about Alabama over and over. To jog memories, Alabama finished the regular season 9-3, but being stacked with NFL talent, they'd be favored in matchups against schools like SMU(11-2) and probably Indiana (11-1). The latter eventually got in but it did nothing to quell this debate over "best" or "best season."

I'm on the side where I would like to see the teams with the 12 best or most enviable seasons. In that situation, 10-2 against a Big Ten schedule is still going to be "better" than 11-1 against the Mountain West, but you don't start to squeeze that MWC team in favor of some middling 9-3/8-4/7-5 major conference team, even if they might be favored head to head.

Anyway. That's my two cent and welcome others'.