The College Football Playoff selection committee chairs have said repeatedly over the past eight seasons they rank teams -- not conferences.
It's easy to tell, though, how much unspoken clout a conference holds in the room.
In the first ranking of the inaugural CFP in 2014, the selection committee had three teams from the SEC West in its top four. It was a bold move that still resonates today, a reminder that there's no limit to the number of teams that can qualify from one conference. The number of ranked teams from each league also impacts their respective contenders because the committee looks at how many wins a team has against CFP Top 25 teams.