We're quibbling over words, which is fine because no one specializes in it more than me.
I get what you're saying. I suppose I come from a place where something so subjective doesn't need its subjectiveness called out, if that makes sense.
As you said, the game will never be played and we all have different opinions of what would have happened in that game. Personally, I never thought Texas would win in Death Valley. I have found the confidence going into that game somewhat naive, based on the smoke and mirrors of a one-game sample size between these two teams in Austin that was probably on the low end of what LSU proved capable of as a team and somewhat on the high end of what Texas was capable of.
Obviously, those are just opinions, but in the face of a strong exception, an opinion can be a form of real talk, which is what I was going for.