Let's just give Kirby Hockutt and his cronies props for designing the worst 4 team playoff possible. A team that didn't even win its conference then they add to their mistake by selecting a team that was annihilated at home by USC who lost 52-6 to Alabama.
Kirby knows how to pick head coaches and he sure knows how to pick the most boring bowl games in history.
USC clearly improved as the year went on, but that aside, who would have been your picks for them playoffs? I am going to assume that you were good with Alabama and Clemson; who should the other two teams have been?
Well by that analogy when did Penn State lose after beating Meyer? The first easy pick is Penn State and before you say that they had 2 lossses LSU won the title with 2 losses. So OSU gets to stay home then gets demolished by Clemson while Penn State has to play a tough Wisconsin team makes sense to me. Yet Urban Meyer gets to eat popcorn and watch the game on his 60" Sony. If I say the other is Michigan then that is contracdictory to my first point so,go with another conference champion. if the conference championships means nothing do away with them. Does Clemson care they won the ACC? Only reason to have them is higher seeds for the playoff.
Otherwise again do away with them and add 8 teams so Urban Meyer doesnt have another heart condition and bolt for Notre Dame!
Not that I disagree with what you just wrote, but I think it shows that there is no easy/good answer. Aside from Alabama and Clemson, there wasn't an easy choice. 'Another conference champion' - they already had the SEC, ACC and Pac-10 champions and since the other conference champion was to replace the quagmire that was the Big 10, that leaves the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma... who was demolished by Ohio State.
Again, I will argue that this year with 4 spots, there was no 'right' answer for the 3rd and 4th spot.
And the conference champion has definitely become somewhat of a farce, but they make too much money, so they are not going anywhere.