If we're talking "deserve" it's not close. ND has probably the 3rd best resume, definitely the 4th.
Whether it's a good idea to be in the playoffs as a 4 seed and get trucked by Bama is an entirely different question.
IDK. Maybe I'm down after the loss, but I just think "deserved" is very debatable. I'm actually not very down at all. At least not as down as I normally would be after a beat down. I guess I wasn't fully on the hype train to start with.
ND struggled for most of the game vs 2-9 Duke and 4-7 Louisville. Our two best wins are
1. at home over a team missing it's #1 superstar and a few stars on D, and it took multiple OTs. It's an asterisk win. Feel free to disagree, but that's how I see it.
2. over a good, not great UNC team, that also lost to 3-6 FSU and 5-5 UVA.
As far as the other teams that will be in the conversation...
OSU - weak resume because of cancelled games (not their fault), but most folks if they're being honest know they have the talent at least to maybe knock off a big boy. So depends on how you define "deserve"
TAMU - got throttled by Bama, but did beat a good FL team, which IMO is better than the UNC win, and perhaps the same level as our asterisk win.
Cinci - we beat USF by more than them, but they handled them too. I think we're obviously better than a Cinci team, but they handled what was on their schedule, and looked good on both sides of the ball. I'd actually hate to play them in a bowl.