One of the biggest debates, especially since Saturday, for the top four spots in the College Football Playoff ultimately came down to Texas A&M and Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s 34-10 loss to Clemson was seen as a possible explanation for why the Fighting Irish may be left out. But the committee ranked it by Alabama at No. 1, then Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame. Texas A&M was at No. 5 and Oklahoma at No. 6.

They key problem for the Aggies was the 52-24 loss to Alabama, as many people pointed to the margin of that loss.

Gary Barta, the chairman of the Playoff committee addressed this issue on ESPN’s CFP Selection Show.

“You painted the picture of really two teams that have similar resumes,” Barta told Rece Davis. “They’ve played similar schedules, coming into this weekend, Notre Dame was undefeated. They had beaten the No. 2 team, now, in Clemson, and on the road against the No. 13 team in North Carolina, and Texas A&M’s top win was against a very good Florida team. So very similar resumes, but in the end the committee felt that Notre Dame had earned its way there based on the complete analysis of the resume, and it probably came down to have an additional win against a ranked team.”