I actually agree about Mississippi St. Their claim to fame is that they didn't lose to a bad team...but they certainly didn't BEAT a good team either. The ultimate source of this problem is that the voters in the polls put WAY too much trust in Florida and so when Ms St beat them, it got them up there...then they were entrenched and it is hard to drop out of the top 25 when you lose a close game to a top 15 team...which they did four times. Honestly, they shouldn't be ranked. All of their fans thought they were going to get screwed and placed in the Music City Bowl, but it didn't really happen. It wouldn't have been all that unfair if it DID happen though.
I guess our only argument is that we beat Texas A&M, who ultimately went on to have a good season beating OU and Nebraska. We also held our own against West opponents. Also, the East may have been down...but to assume they were a complimentary win may be a bit of an exaggeration, ask Bama about that.
On the other hand, you say that OSU gets bashed but Ms St gets lauded...but they are playing in the Gator Bowl against a 7-5 team from the frozen rust tundra and you guys are playing in the Sugar Bowl against a 10-2 team. I would say you did OK. If you guys had made a few more plays against Wisconsin and we had done the same against the two schools from Alabama, we might be playing in an even better situation. Of course, if wishes were horses...
The good news is we will know before we play if the West really was just full of hot air since all but Auburn will have played and two of the games are against Big 10 teams.