eball, you are looking backwards, the game is forward driving, Minnesota is in the Big Ten (yes i know it's possible many fans did not KNOW this until last week)
the rankings mean jack squat except for Notre Dame and mid-majors (like Boise a few years ago) to see if they get the love from the media to make a serious playoff push
the game is about 0 or 1 losses and winning a big conference championship game
then they have the no-brainer selections and maybe 1 or 2 interesting decisions for the Final Four of Football
what would be more valuable to a big-$$$ non-playoff Bowl committee.... a 3-loss Michigan or Minnesota....