The selection committee of the initial College Football Playoff had a daunting task.
The 12-person committee’s task is to choose the top four college football teams to participate in the College Football Playoff.  
The biggest challenge has been determining the combined value of a game-by-game performance compared to the importance of the latest game.
For the most part, the committee has suffered through constant knee-jerk reaction. They’ve placed too much importance into style points and too much emphasis on the most recent football game played.
Here are some general rules they appear to believe in:
First rule — the committee can change its mind on what’s important each week. One week, the team you beat is important. The next week, which team you lost to is important.
Any team affiliated with the Southeastern Conference is overvalued (SEC rule).
If you lose a football game early in the season, the committee will have a hard time remembering that (Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State rule).
Any conference which doesn’t play a league title team will be undervalued (Big 12 rule).
What team you lost to may not be important (Ohio State rule).
A team’s weak non-conference schedule has little or no penalty (Baylor rule).
If your team is unbeaten (Florida State), we’ll ignore that fact because the committee is convinced that one-loss Alabama and Oregon are better football teams (perception rather than reality rule).
Simply put, an unbeaten Florida State team should be top-ranked, ahead of Alabama and Oregon. There should be value for winning every football game. Being ranked No. 1 has great importance because third-ranked Florida State would be scheduled to play in California rather than New Orleans in the national semifinals.
At this point, Texas Christian should be a solid No. 4, well ahead of Baylor and Ohio State. TCU and Baylor each has lost one conference game, which gives them equal stature. TCU would beat Baylor on a neutral field.
Should Alabama remain No. 1, TCU is the team that the Crimson Tide does not want to play. Alabama would much rather play Ohio State (without its starting quarterback) or Baylor (with a faltering defense) rather than TCU, an innovative offensive team with a quick-hitting defense.
Meanwhile, Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder is loving all this publicity about Baylor heading to Saturday’s title showdown in Waco, Texas. The winner is assured of a share of the Big 12 football title.
 
Jim Misunas