Which should rank higher for national championship: Baylor or Notre Dame?

Each week during the college football season, national analyst Chris Dufresne will burn a timeout to answer questions and exchange opinions. You can email him at chris.dufresne@latimes.com and reach him at @DufresneLATimes on Twitter.

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Your article listing the top teams for the college national championship belittled Baylor’s regular-season schedule as too weak for the Bears to be considered a serious contender for the national playoffs.

In the next paragraph you lauded Notre Dame’s record and endorsed its qualifications to be ranked high in the playoff brackets!!

Are you serious?

C Randolph

Rule one: In college football, always look for a conspiracy first and use facts only as a very last resort.

The College Football Playoff selection committee ranked one-loss Notre Dame at No. 5, one spot ahead of undefeated Baylor (looks pretty smart, huh, after Baylor’s close call at Kansas State?).

Why are all these smart people not considering the strength of Baylor’s schedule versus Notre Dame’s?

Let’s take a look at four of the computers that were used in the old Bowl Championship Series formula. All of them think Notre Dame playing Clemson, Georgia Tech, USC and Temple is tougher than Baylor’s playing Southern Methodist, Rice, Lamar and Kansas.

Jeff Sagarin has Baylor’s schedule ranked No. 104 compared with No. 16 for Notre Dame.

Anderson/Hester ranks Baylor’s schedule at 103 and Notre Dame’s at No. 9.

Colley Matrix has Baylor at 126 and Notre Dame at No. 9.

Billingsley’s ranking lists Baylor’s SOS at 116 and Notre Dame at No. 4.

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You went to the first test run of the committee, please tell me they take injuries into account. Baylor’s quarterback being out and all.

@ObiWanKobe

I did attend a mock selection committee last year and it was very interesting. I played the role of Pat Haden so poorly he could no longer stand to remain a committee member.

Injuries are definitely part of the evaluation process. The committee got tested last year after Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett was injured late in the season against Michigan.

The Buckeyes were basically on trial at the Big Ten championship game.

The committee was closely examining how third-stringer Cardale Jones would fare against Wisconsin.

I believe that had Jones wobbled at all, or even led his team to a close-win result, Ohio State would not have made the four-team playoff. We have to assume Baylor would have been the choice because the Bears finished No. 5 in the final ranking.

But Ohio State did not just defeat Wisconsin. It obliterated the Badgers, 59-0, making it easy for the committee to give Ohio State the No. 4 spot.

The choice was also made easier because the Big 12 named Baylor and Texas Christian co-champions of the conference.

Instead of having to choose one over the other, the committee left both teams out.

I think the injury to Baylor quarterback Seth Russell was one reason the Bears started at No. 6 in the first ranking this year.

Freshman Jarrett Stidham looked terrific in his starting debut Thursday night, but it may be too soon for a full evaluation. Remember how good UCLA rookie Josh Rosen looked in his debut against Virginia?

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We could possibly have undefeated Louisiana State, Baylor or Texas Christian, Clemson and Ohio State. No way Notre Dame gets in over any of that.

Jay Romano

My guess is Notre Dame would get in over most of that. Remember, you only need to finish No. 4 to get in the playoff. The Irish are already ranked ahead of Baylor and TCU. And even though the strength of schedule of those teams will improve in the next few weeks, I bet Notre Dame, if it wins out, finishes with a higher SOS in the final accounting.

Remember, Notre Dame has tough remaining games against Pittsburgh and Stanford.

Also remember: If you think of college football as a beauty contest, how many times has Alabama and/or Notre Dame ended up Miss Congeniality?

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How about Iowa? Look at its nonconference foes!! Joke!!

Tom Vento

Good point. For that reason, I was slightly surprised Iowa debuted at No. 9 — ahead of Florida! — in the first CFP ranking.

Iowa played Illinois State, Iowa State, Pittsburgh and North Texas in nonconference. Pittsburgh was a quality opponent, and rival Iowa State is not terrible, having just defeated Texas, which defeated Oklahoma.

I think Iowa impressed the committee with two Big Ten Conference road wins, at Wisconsin and Northwestern.

Iowa did luck out this year in the Big Ten’s random eight-game schedule, missing Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State from the East Division

But this is no different from what happens to certain teams in the Southeastern Conference, a 14-team league that also plays an eight-game schedule.

The difference is, the Big Ten is moving to a nine-game league schedule next year. The SEC has elected to stay at eight games.

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The officials’ screw-up in the Duke-Miami football game seems to be just the latest in a never-ending parade of similar incidents occurring during the history of athletic competition. . . . Doesn’t the NCAA, or maybe a conference commissioner, have the authority to correct the win-loss records of the teams involved?

Chuck Converse

I do think the rules committee needs to address what happened at the end of Miami-Duke. If the wrong call is made on the final play of the game, and that can be proved by replay, the team that should have won should be awarded the victory.

Miami would argue there were many unjust calls during the course of the game that affected the outcome. The Hurricanes were penalized 23 times. But you can’t go back and undo every mistake. It seems only right, though, that the final play of any game should be treated like any other replay during the course of a game.