Yup, an 8-team playoff would yield 3-4 SEC teams most years. Then you all would bitch about that....the never-ending cycle. Yeesh.
Some truths:
Wisconsin was never highly thought of....which made OSU's win over them kind of 'meh'
Alabama was ranked 5th and two teams above them lost. Why is UGA leapfrogging them being ignored?
Alabama was #1 all year and blew out #3 FSU when they were at full strength.
The committee has already included a non-conference champ before, why is this time so damning?
We can include preseason polls or not, but before the season started (or in late OCT, same difference), Alabama was viewed as the best team. They 'proved' that with their win vs FSU.
As with anytime the #1 team loses, they move down the rankings. However, as with any #1 team losing, they then start moving back up to their 'default' position. Regression to the mean for the #1 team is back up towards #1 (unless they lose). Believe it or not, this isn't all that much about Alabama at all. Say USC was number one and lost on OCT 1. They'd drop down some, but then what? Would a bunch of teams start leap-frogging them? No. They were highly thought of (as per their #1 ranking), and would start moving up gradually as other teams lost.
The fact that we're talking about the end of the regular season and the fact that big, bad Alabama is from the evil SEC is why it's such a chore. I wish I could say I'm surprised.