Beach, I don't know that your argument is all that clear cut.
Let's say ND wins Saturday, Nebraska beats Iowa, MSU beats PSU and then MSU beats Iowa. MSU would have wins over one-loss OSU, two-loss Iowa and three-loss Michigan. All three of those teams could have easily lost to Indiana, so I think that eliminates the "well ND could have easily lost to Virginia" argument (I know you aren't making that argument, but some have). ND would have wins over one-loss conference champ Navy, three loss possible conference champ Stanford, three-loss Pitt and three-loss Temple that hammered middle of the row BIG Penn St. Three of these teams (possibly four) would be ranked somewhere from 10 to 25 with Navy being ranked the highest.
Now throw in the fact that MSU lost to an average Nebraska team and ND lost by two points to the number 1 or 2 team in the country (assuming Clemson wins out) on the road and the argument for MSU over ND certainly is not a slam dunk.