ESPiN will say what they think fans of the most popular teams want to hear. Those ESPiN guys talk for a living, they are entertainers, performers on the stage in front of the camera wearing mics and acting out their roles.
About week 8 we'll see people who behave a little closer to scientist assembling and evaluating a set of data on which will be the foundation of the relationships between each of the 100+ NCAA football FBS teams. The final data won't be discovered until after the last post season game is finished but in week 8 they will have collected enough to get some idea of where each team stands.
ESPiN isn't political though they are all lobby for the corporate partner the SEC. I better handle on economics might be more useful.
Exa 1: If AnM plays Bama and the game is close Clemson will be a powerful team which went to the hardest venue in the world and beat the home team.
Exa 2: If AnM beats Bama then the Clemson loss was a fluke and the SEC deserves two teams in the playoff so both AnM and Bama should be in.
ESPiN is nothing but a collection of yes men but in this case Mickey Mouse is the man.