The job of the College Football Playoff committee has rarely been simple, but it certainly has never been this complicated.
In the old days of the four-team playoff, the selections were often obvious. Now there aren’t just 12 teams to pick and seed, there is something else adding a degree of difficulty.
Parity.
The transfer portal and name, image and likeness payments have quickly dispersed top talent to more schools — at the same strengthening contenders and weakening favorites. The gap between great and good has closed. It isn’t quite Any Given Saturday, but it is a far cry from even five years ago, when only two or three legitimate national title contenders existed.