It certainly has more brand recognition than the bottom half. Can’t imagine the TV magnates would be happy with SMU and Indiana advancing to the New Year’s Eve/Day round.
if they were to rerack the same teams purely by ranking:
(12) Clemson at (5) Notre Dame, then vs (4) Penn State.
(9) Boise State at (8) Indiana, then vs (1) Oregon.
(10) SMU at (7) Tennessee, then vs (2) Georgia.
(11) Arizona State at (6) Ohio State, then vs (3) Texas.
I tend to think that’s the way it should be, although again I’d rerack the second round so the worst remaining seed faces Oregon, then next worst remaining seed faces Georgia, and so on.