As each person is selected for the committee, I’m sure they are screened to be useful to the power 2 and the networks. They can either be useful idiots who just are biased towards the power teams or I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of them receive “benefits” that influence their rankings. And then there a handful of members, like Rhoades at Baylor, who aren’t given visibility into the back-door dealings but provide the committee with the appearance of legitimacy.
College football is just the US version of FIFA. It’s super corrupt - that’s what happens when hundreds of millions of dollars are changing hands and politicians are involved.
I have no doubt that the majority of the committee understands the assignment. It’s been clear from the rankings ever since the 2020 season and byu started in the late teens even though they had played way more games than power teams and were undefeated. The directive was given that we are in uncertain economic times and there is no way money is flowing away from the power schools.
Finally, the SEC and Big10 will disband the committee in the near future. The tool works, but there are risks of losing control or having the corruption exposed. We’ll eventually go to a 16-team playoff where the top 4 power teams get auto bids while the acc/big12 get 2 (or something to that effect).