I get it but college football loves to preach that the regular season of college football is the playoffs. When in reality they will just shoehorn Alabama, Ohio State or Oklahoma into the playoffs every chance they get. And they are always great teams so of course they will do well in the playoffs. But then don't preach that the regular season is a playoff of sorts because it's not. If you want to be like the NFL and have real playoffs then expand this thing. If you're just deciding basically between 4 teams, they should at least all be the best in their conference. Whoever loses between LSU or Alabama is likely not the best in their conference. But like you said, the loser will probably still get included in the final four if they win out.
I don’t think you can compare the college system and professional football in the same manner. While it true that some teams seem to bring their history that shouldn’t matter in their system. It’s a new season with much more new players on the team that have no history so the college teams more difficult to state how much you can rely on the history of the team. This is the way a college team should be assessed being the primary importance is what is being accomplished this season only.
On the other hand the professional teams are more static and any new team additions are pretty well known what they are brining to the team. Even so there is no rankings so a loss isn’t necessarily critical because the first goal is to get in the playoffs. That system determines the championship. In College rankings are paramount because the playoffs are only a few select teams and what they accomplished .
Granted the selection committee has its biases but if the system is utilized correctly only the best of the best with accompanying records will compete. With professionals the records are important to the division level.
Thats how it should be but the trick for the college system is getting the objectivity. The smaller schools have it worked out pretty well because their system is more like a seasonal playoff and conferences are predetermined for the finals.