Let's Rerank the New Year Six Teams

This is taking an ESPN web site article of the same name as a discussion starter.  Mr. Ted Miller ranked the teams as follows after the Bowls/Semifinals, but before the NC Game:

1) Alabama

2) Clemson

3) USC

4) Penn State

5) Ohio State

6) Washington

7) Oklahoma

8) Florida State

9) Michigan

10) Wisconsin

11) Auburn

12) Western Michigan

His reasoning is in the article.  This is my list with notes, but before I get to that, let me state a few general points I will follow.  The Bowl winners are generally going to be ahead of the losers (duh); not automatically.  I am not trying to list the teams that I think are most likely to win a hypothetical match-up next week, but credit the whole body of work over the season, with recent wins counting for more that early season wins.  Winning head to head in the early season matters, but is not the most important factor.  Having said that, a close "valiant" loss in the Bowl can be more of a credit than an oh-hum win.  Therefore, I would rank the six losses in the bowls (most creditable to ugliest) as: 1) Penn State, 1a) Washington, 3) Michigan, 4) Western Michigan, 5) Ohio State, and 6) Auburn.  Stirring all that secret together, here is my 1-12 ranking of the NY6 Teams:

1) Alabama - duh

2) Clemson - ditto, and the winner of the NC Game becomes 1 with the loser 2.  Even if the loser gets shellacked, both these teams have done enough to be ranked ahead of anyone else.

3) Oklahoma - that was an impressive win at an actual neutral site.  They are playing great late, won their Conference and won their Bowl.

4) USC - very close to OU; also playing great late, beat the two teams that played in their Conference Championship Game, and won their Bowl.  The tiny differences are no Conference Championship, no defense in the Bowl, and playing what amounts to a home game.  Good but less that Oklahoma.

5) Florida State - their Orange Bowl win was not as close as the final score indicated.  That is a talented team.

6) Penn State - hadn't lost since early October.  Beat Wisconsin for the B1G; torched USC's defense.  It pains us because Michigan shredded them early, but one more win (incl OSU) and a B1G Championship speaks for itself.

7) Washington - the defense was up to Alabama, but their inability to score after the first possession (a theme with Alabama's opponents this year) extinguished any doubt who would win.  As between them and Penn State, the lack of impressive wins, excepting Colorado, puts them just a hair behind.

8) Wisconsin - they had a workman like win in a consolation prize Bowl against a consolation prize level opponent.  They were the best of the B1G West; they played Mich, OSU and PSU close, but lost all three games.  Hey, 8 isn't bad, but their season was less than the 7 teams in front of them.

9) Ohio State - 11-1 and a legit playoff berth is pretty good.  However, the Clemson de-pantsing proved what we suspected all along.  This was a young, wonky offense bailed out by its precosius defense and other than the PSU game, they never faced their opponent's best shot, before Clemson.  Their early season win over OU in Norman was impressive, but still rather old news overshadowed by their late season games.

9a) Michigan - Losing a close Bowl game is not the worst thing in the world, but losing three of the last four left a mark.  I tied them with OSU because their late season head-to-head game in Columbus with home-cooking officiating was still a toss-up, and they did play a Bowl game in their opponent's backyard, without (arguably) their best player on each of offense, defense and special teams, and had a very late lead.  Also, that OSU loss against Clemson was really ugly, an ostrich sized egg with plenty of square corners.

11) Western Michigan - in a magical season, with their best team in a generation, they showed they belonged on the field with...a good but not great Wisconsin.

12) Auburn - blown out by a non-playoff team in the Bowl, and lost their last game of the regular season.  They were still a good team, but not better than the 11 in front of them.

Agree/disgree?  With either my criteria or their application?