The CFP committee must account for conference champions — but what if it didn't?

The Oregon Ducks remained No. 1 in the third set of College Football Playoff rankings, which were released on Tuesday night. The Ducks, who currently sit at 11-0 overall and 8-0 in Big Ten play, were followed by Ohio State at No. 2 and Texas at No. 3.Penn State and Indiana round out the top five teams.

But the real shakeup this week came when the selection committee ranked Boise State No. 12, two spots ahead of BYU (14) and four spots ahead of Colorado (16). After the Cougars suffered their first loss of the season this past weekend, a 17-13 defeat to Kansas (4-6), it shouldn't come as a surprise that the committee was unkind to BYU. However, with Boise State now ranked ahead of BYU, we must accept a scenario where a G5 champion might be one of the four highest-ranked conference champions in the sport.

[Related: College Football Playoff rankings: Oregon remains on top; BYU falls eight spots ]

Add to that the fact that Army could move to 10-0 with a win against No. 6-ranked Notre Dame this weekend. If that were to happen, the Black Knights – ranked No. 19 – could potentially leap into the top 10 of the rankings next week and move the presumptive American Athletic Conference champion ahead of at least one presumptive Power 4 champion.

With five SEC teams, four Big Ten teams and one ACC team ranked ahead of any Big 12 teams, more and more people are going to become aware that the selection committee is obliged to give the four highest-ranked conference champions — not just Power 4 champions — one of the coveted top seeds that is rewarded with a first-round bye before participating in the playoff.

The criteria for ranking and selecting teams for the CFP is clear for the committee: It must account for conference