Post-season CFB awards are often popularity contests. And sometimes the committees who select the nominees get it wrong. Audric Estime was pretty clearly one of the best running backs in CFB this year, but he didn't make the list of finalists for the Doak Walker Award. The DWA selection committee probably got that one wrong.
My problem is that the guys on this board who constantly rip into Marist Liufau don't know what they are talking about, for the most part. He was a very solid player, and his PFF grades and nomination as a Butkus Award finalist corroborate that. You don't think he is elite. That's ok. I would probably agree with that. Did he play well enough to be named a Butkus Award finalist? Probably not. But is his selection "laughable," as you have characterized it? We'll have to disagree on that one.