They can use any criteria they want to do that. The “eye test” is really the first test they use. If they think there are two teams that look the same, then they start to take into consideration strength of schedule, good wins, bad losses, etc.

But Utah isn’t being considered in the same category as Clemson, so those things really won’t come into play. Utah is going to be compared with Oklahoma/Baylor.

The committee isn’t trying to pick the most deserving teams-they’re trying to pick the “best” teams, and Clemson’s track recruits will be a part of that, whether explicitly or implicitly. But it’s not like they take the top 8 teams then build some sort of giant linear model to compare them. It makes for 3 games that should, on paper at least, be very compelling, but really has nothing to do with a championship.

The basketball tournament is set up to get a tourney winner and that team is named the national champion. The football tourney is set up to pick the 4 teams that look the best, even if certain metrics might select another team.

Just make it a real tournament by inviting all 5 P5 conference champions, the best G5 and the next 2 best overall teams and have a real championship.

Every team starts the season with a chance to participate and every game really matters.