doesn't matter wins are wins,
joe paterno was 2-15-1 against ohio state, 6-10 against michigan
Lol at oregon walked in, oregon has been a premier team for decades
Bolded are probably the worst parts of an absolutely terrible argument you're making.
When you're trying to make the playoff, who you beat absolutely does matter, especially when the reputation your coach and program carry is that wins against top ranked teams are the exception, not the rule. Or, a better way to put it, similar pro ball, the easiest way to make the playoffs is to win your conference. When you're guaranteed to lose no less than one game against one of the frontrunners to make the conference title game, and then most likely lose said game if you make it there, you're not putting yourself in the best position. I mean, if Ryan Day was out here coaching to save his career last season, how in the fukk was James Franklin supposed to survive how bad this season has been?
And Oregon just recently got back to being solid in the last five years or so, running the Pac-12 while it slowly died. I don't think anyone was expecting them to win the Big Ten in their first season, and then follow up with clearly being at worst the second best team in the conference the year after. This was supposed to be Penn State's clearest path to a Big Ten title and instead they're dropping games to Northwestern. Unfortunately, breh's time was just up.