Methinks the gist of what the Picker was trying to say by implying the SEC winner could squeak in kinda went over your head. His implication was the SEC schedule itself is tough enough that the winner might not need to play the type of OOC schedule that he's advocating.

Strength of schedule can also be a crap-shoot. The ADs must schedule so far in advance it is difficult to know if that quality opponent will be worthwhile when the series finally arrives. The Alabama/OU series looked great when scheduled, but Bama was struggling when OU played them. Using strength of schedule as a deciding factor, those wins would not be as impressive as they would be when Bama was a worthy opponent. The same could be said for OSU and Arizona as the Wildcats were not as impressive as was hoped when they were scheduled. Maybe Arizona will be improved this coming season so that helps the strength of schedule.

Why not have all conferences play a nine game league schedule, no OOC, determine sixteen Conference Champions. Take the 16 teams and play a 4 game series (could be played in the bowl games on a rotating basis) to determine the National Champion. No computers, no fan input, no ESPN lobbying...just play in your conference and win the championship, and then you are in the Championship series.

A strong champion from a weak conference could be ranked 16th and play the number 1 to start with, preventing rewards for being in a weak conference.