All of the teams in this inaugural CFP were very good, yet flawed, teams. Such is the nature of college football in the current environment. I'm not sure we'll ever see juggernauts like those Alabama teams ever again, given that it's now exceedingly difficult to stockpile talent given scholarship limits, NIL money and player mobility via the transfer portal. Texas was a very good team—their FPI was a tad better than ND's and a tad worse than Ohio State's. All three were comparable when viewing their FPI (and a good bit ahead of Penn State using that measure, yet Penn State still took ND to the wire). ND is pretty banged up on the OLine, so hopefully they get healthier by game time. Either way, I predict it will be a very competitive game—Freeman & co. aren't going to roll over for the Buckeyes.I'm not saying they are, they're just among a group of 6ish teams at the top who could've won the national title.
Primarily I don't think OSU is clearly above the rest as a lot of folks claim after the Tennessee and Oregon wins, though they probably have the highest ceiling. Computer ratings don't seem to think Vegas's OSU -9.5 makes much sense. ESPN's FPI has OSU by 1.9 pts, Sagarin has 'em by 3, etc.
Parity? Yes. Mediocrity? I think that's harsh, but there's obviously no juggernaut team like the undefeated Alabama, Clemson, Georgia or LSU champs from the past decade.