you got liberty playing schedules easier than some FCS teams and getting the NY6 bid over an SMU team who played a significantly tougher schedule and who’s only losses were on the road against OU and TCU. liberty’s toughest game was new mexico state (x2)

OU, missouri, penn state, and ole miss all had a 10-2 record. OU was the only one with a top 20 strength of schedule. it was 10 spots better than the next best out of those. OU was ranked the lowest and the only one not in an NY6 bowl. literally only because of conference affiliation.

looking at strength of schedules, the big 12 had the 2nd toughest avg amongst all conferences. the big 12 had i believe 8 top 30 teams in sagarin (can’t look right now cause last year still impacts this years sagarin), yet only had 2 or 3 ranked teams most of the year.