The champion gets it. Four ranked wins are concrete evidence, while the lighter slate leaves unanswered questions.
Imagine the one-loss champion has four ranked wins and lost by three on the road. The unbeaten independent owns two solid wins, no elite victory, and dominated everyone else. Both pass the eye test. I lean toward the champion because the schedule created more chances to fail, but punishing an unbeaten team feels wrong. Without brand names, which résumé gets your final spot and why?
