One, two? One, two, three four? How about five, six, seven and eight?

That’s right, the Final Four of college football’s first-ever 12-team national championship playoff tournament is Texas, an at-large No. 5 seed out of the SEC; Penn State, an at-large No. 6 seed out of the Big Ten; Notre Dame, an at-large No. 7 seed from the independent circuit; and Ohio State, an at-large No. 8 seed from the Big Ten.

Not only is the college football Final Four made up of at-large entrants, but the four representatives had to play an extra game to get there.

True, they all got to play their first-round games in front of their home crowds, and they were all favored to advance, but their second-round opponents—No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Boise State, and No. 4 Arizona State—earned byes.

It really didn’t matter. Penn State walloped Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl by a score of 31-14. Ohio State destroyed Oregon, 41-15, in the Rose Bowl. Texas outlasted Arizona State, 39-31, in the Peach Bowl. Finally, Notre Dame had its way with Georgia by a score of 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl.

The results in the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl weren’t exactly surprising—Texas finished third, Penn State fourth, Boise State ninth, and ASU 12th in the final AP poll—but it was a major surprise to see the Ducks and Bulldogs get so easily outplayed in their bowl games.

Why is college football’s Final Four of the first-ever 12-team national championship playoff made up of all at-large entrants? Where are the conference champions?

I don’t know, but wildcard teams have been winning championships in professional sports for years, so why can’t that occasionally happen at the college level? Last I checked, there are 134 teams at the FBS (Division I) level. It always seemed silly that the powers that were could never wrap their heads around the idea of having a much larger postseason field to determine the national champion.

But we have that now. Sure, the teams who will be squaring off in the Final Four–Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl; and Texas and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl–aren’t exactly underdogs of the sport, but at least they had to earn their way to the semifinals based on their play on the field and not because some committee decided they deserved to be there.

Yes, a committee ultimately decided that these schools got to be a part of an expanded national championship field, but they all had to win two games to get to where they are now. Two of them are going to have to win three to advance to the national title game.

One of them is going to have to win four games to win the whole thing.

It’s not a perfect system, but at least schools like Boise State, Arizona State, SMU and Indiana got to participate. Is it a shame that programs like Alabama and Miami were left out? Not really.

The new 12-team tournament may not be perfect, but it does provide an automatic path to entry: Win your major conference. If you do that, you’re golden. If you don’t, it comes down to your resume.

Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State put together resumes that won over the committee, and they are currently proving the committee right.

No system to determine a national champion in college football is going to be the best, but this 12-team tournament is the best we’ve had so far.