WSU was competitive that year in the sense that it was a Porter Gustin missed penalty and a freak slush / ice / snow storm from likely being undefeated going into the conference title game. It would have been against Utah on a neutral site and WSU probably would have been favored, having already beaten Utah that year. I'm about as realistic as they come around here, but there's no way to say that team, despite its flaws and not really being a top-4 team, couldn't have made the playoff. It likely would have been pasted in the playoff, so we agree in terms of how "competitive" WSU really was, but it's not like WSU getting in that year was a big stretch. For whatever it's worth.