In 2012 there's definite confusion between #4 and #6. I think Alabama is a step above all the other 1-loss teams because of the strength of their schedule. Florida is the only other 1-loss team with a comparable schedule and they didn't win their conference. According to Sagarin they were the only teams with one loss or fewer with a top 35 SOS. And they were both in the top 20 for SOS.

 

You'd have a hard time convincing me that any of the other teams listed deserved to be #1. You can make a case for Alabama depending on how you weigh strength of schedule. I can't think of a year 5 teams had a legitimate argument that they deserved the top ranking at the end of the year.

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