Picking college football playoff field difficult task

Where have you gone BCS?

We miss you. Actually not really, but imagine being a member of the inaugural College Football Playoff selection committee?

Sleep well, folks?

The committee has the unenviable task of picking four teams Sunday for college football's debut playoff, and I keep coming back to one thought:

Why can't it be an eight-team playoff?

That makes far more sense and would avoid the difficult scenario the committee faces in whittling the field to four.

The top three seeds are easy: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Florida State. The committee might not pick them in that order, but those three teams are locks.

The discussion becomes messy with the final pick. Three teams are worthy: TCU, Ohio State and Baylor. All three finished the season with one loss. All three have a solid case. Two will be left out.

TCU was third in the committee's most recent rankings and smashed Iowa State 55-3. Ohio State stunned Wisconsin 59-0 with a third-string quarterback. Baylor handled No. 9 Kansas State 38-27.

I turned myself into a mental pretzel trying to decide on the fourth playoff team.

Baylor beat TCU head-to-head after trailing by 21 points, but the Bears lost at West Virginia. TCU won at West Virginia and beat the Gophers in non-conference.

Ohio State's only loss came against Virginia Tech at home in Week 2 but that was J.T. Barrett's second start in place of injured starter Braxton Miller. This is a different team now. I thought the Buckeyes' playoff hopes were lost with Barrett's injury but No. 3 quarterback Cardale Jones was brilliant in the Big Ten title game.

TCU has the "best" loss so to speak. Baylor won the head-to-head. Ohio State looks fabulous.

I saw TCU and Ohio State in person and came away extremely impressed with both. I honestly can't sit here and say definitely which team is better. They're both very good. So is Baylor.

So what to do? The problem is, there is no wrong answer. Every argument is strong. I can argue the merits of all three teams.

But only four teams get in, so this is how I think the things will look when the committee releases its playoff rankings on Sunday.