I completely agree 100% with you and I have been trying to explain to many people this same exact scenario. Whenever I explained this to people, all Hawkeye fans or National Media want to say is, "Nope it's Iowa. They won't be in with a loss".
Please go through all of the possible scenarios. A 1 loss Iowa team that wins the BIG 10 championship has a very good shot at the playoff. Here is the worst case scenario as we sit today.
13-0 Clemson, 13-0 Okie State, 11-1 Notre Dame, 12-1 Alabama and 12-1 Iowa. In this case, Clemson, Okie State and Bama would be in for sure. Iowa very easily could have just beaten undefeated and #1, defending national champion Ohio State. I personally don't believe the committee with Barry Alvarez and Tom Osborne would allow an 11-1 ND team to be in over the Big 10 champion especially when ND didn't play in a conference championship. Ask the Big 12 conference how that went for them last year.
Now, lets say Notre Dame loses to Stanford (as of right now Stanford is a 2.50 point favorite of Notre Dame). Then you would have ACC Champion, Big 10 champion, Big 12 champion and SEC champion. Iowa is guaranteed to be in the playoff under this circumstance. Please somebody explain a different scenario how a 1 loss Iowa BIG champion team would not be in the playoff if Notre Dame Loses? You won't find 1.
Here is another possible scenario. North Carolina 12-1 ACC champion, 11-1 Oklahoma team along with 11-1 Okie State, 12-1 Bama, 12-1 Iowa and 11-1 Notre Dame. In this scenario, I also believe that Iowa would be in. I don't believe for a second that the committee would take a 1 loss ACC champion over a 1 loss Big 10 champion. North Carolina would be out. Or possibly the Big 12 champion instead of NC.
Once again, if you break things down, a 1 loss 12-1 Iowa team has a very good chance at making the playoff especially if Notre Dame loses. I could possiblly understand people's thinking if Notre Dame doesn't lose but then we still could hold out hope that North Carolina wins the ACC or Okie State loses and the committee would have another tough decision.