Of course they can, it's not rocket science to reproduce this issue, the experiment is detailed very clearly and anyone can easily run it.
If you were correct then the results would have been opposite. Man City has the highest reputation and with 180-190CA players also the highest squad CA, so they should have won the league but instead they finished last, meaning full detail simulation was used. The next two paragraphs about title contenders and cannon fodder are also not relevant if only reputation and CA was taken into account.
What agenda could anyone ever have against SI? People are just passionate about a game and want it improved, there's no conspiracy theory here. This issue definitely belongs in the bug section and it would be great to have it fixed or to have explanation from SI what's happening here. Or do you think every bug report is a conspiracy against SI? People report issues because they want a better game. Your attitude towards issue reports like this does nothing to improve the game. if this was a poorly executed experiment then run one yourself and prove it.