Baylor and TCU were both eliminated from playoff consideration when they lost a game, they just didn't know it yet.
Ohio State lost last year too.
The 13th game argument strikes me as particularly silly. The Big 10 had so few quality wins out of conference last year that I do not get the argument for why another game against a Big 10 team made Ohio State's claim stronger. The fact that Wisconsin had just lost its coach put an even bigger asterisk next to the win.
Yes, OSU, TCU and Baylor all lost 1 game. OSU played 13; TCU and Baylor played 12. If this were MLB, OSU would be in first place based on winning percentage (13>12). OSU's 13th game was also against a ranked opponent, new coach or not, whom they dismantled.
Of TCU and Baylor's 12 games, both played SMU and both played a FCS opponent. Right there, that's 2/12 games that should be struck from consideration. TCU played Minnesota and Baylor played Buffalo...edge: TCU. That's it. That's your OOC for TCU and Baylor. OSU did not play a FCS opponent and scheduled VT (loss), Navy, Kent St and Cincinnati. Granted, not a top notch OOC schedule either but head and shoulders above what TCU/Baylor played OOC.
Another consideration is the good ol' "what have you done lately?" argument. I highlight that in "Nov/Dec slate". If you notice, both TCU and Baylor's "bad wins" came late in the season (TCU struggling to beat lowly Kansas; Baylor struggling to beat Texas Tech). OSU's "bad win" came much earlier in the year and while the teams they faced down the stretch weren't all gangbusters (i.e. Illinois, Indiana), they were never threatened in any game.
Resumes:
TCU 11-1
Loss - @Baylor 61-58
"Bad Wins" - @Kansas 34-30
OOC - Samford (FCS), Minnesota, @SMU
Nov/Dec slate: @WVU 31-30, Kansas State 41-20, @Kansas 34-30, @Texas 48-10, Iowa St 55-3
Baylor 11-1
Loss - @WVU 41-27
"Bad Wins" - Texas Tech 48-46
OOC - SMU, Northwestern State (FCS), @Buffalo
Nov/Dec slate: Kansas 60-14, @OU 48-14, Okielite 49-28, Texas Tech 48-46, Kansas St 38-27
Ohio St 12-1
Loss - Virginia Tech 35-21
"Bad Wins" - @Penn St 31-24 (OT)
OOC - Navy, Va Tech, Kent St, Cincinnati
Nov/Dec slate: Illinois 55-14, @Michigan St 49-37, @Minnesota 31-24, Indiana 42-27, Michigan 42-28, Wisconsin (CCG) 59-0
Bottomline, no matter how you slice it, 13>12
every time. Throw in the fact that both TCU and Baylor scheduled a FCS opponent when OSU did not
AND TCU/Baylor both had the unfortunate timing of having SMU on their schedules, and a 12-game schedule without a marquee championship game suddenly becomes a 10-game schedule. If the B12 can't/won't expand to 12 schools to play a CCG, then it absolutely, positively must 1) never schedule FCS opponents; 2) schedule
top OOC schedules against ranked opponents. TCU and Baylor did neither of those.
You're right, the B1G didn't have many top OOC wins last year (although they did very well in bowl season!). OSU's loss was against a middle-of-the-pack ACC team
at home. But if you have to lose, you'd rather lose in week 1 and build up from there than lose later in the season and not have enough time to show a bounce back. OSU had the better OOC schedule than both TCU and Baylor and played an extra game against a ranked opponent, who they pistol whipped by 60 points. And let's not forget that Ohio St played with 3 different QBs during the season and got
better as they got down their depth chart.
The decision was really MUCH easier than everyone thinks. It had nothing to do with Ohio St being a "name brand" and TCU/Baylor are not. The resumes speak for themselves. Again (and again and again), if the B12 is going to hold steady at 10 members, they need to really beef up their OOC scheduling to make all 12 games count. No more FCS. No more SMU. Schools will need to schedule outside of their comfort zone, even if it means playing a true road game in September against a ranked opponent. It's that or expand to 12 so that we could have seen TCU vs Baylor in December and the winner getting a more fighting chance to be included in the playoff.