The College Football Playoff is like a Honda Civic.

It could be worse and it gets the job done, but there is so much room for improvement.

When the College Football Playoff Committee was formed prior to the 2014 season, fans were told the selection process for the four-team tournament was going to be different.

Committee member and Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long even claimed he watches coaches’ films to dissect rosters before ranking his teams.

But fans soon realized that the playoff ranking was not unlike every other human poll: Boring and often lacking logic.

In late October when the committee releases its initial ranking each season, the group of 13 university and athletic officials likes to pretend it has iron-clad principles.

Take Wisconsin, for example.

The Badgers were 8-0 when the committee released its first poll Halloween night, but were ranked below six teams that had one loss.

The argument was that Wisconsin hadn’t played any decent teams to that point and was unproven.

And that’s fine.

There are many better ways to judge a team’s worth than simply placing teams in order of their win/loss record.

A week later, still-undefeated Wisconsin sat at No. 8 behind one-loss teams like Notre Dame, Clemson, Oklahoma and TCU.

Last season, Texas A&M (7-1) debuted at No. 4 in the first playoff ranking, ahead of 8-0 Washington.

But as the season goes on, the strangest thing happens.

The committee’s principles go flying out the window.

In last year’s final ranking, undefeated Alabama was No. 1, followed by the only one-loss teams from major conferences: Clemson, Ohio State and Washington.

The next three teams each had two losses, and the next six teams each had three losses.

It looked nearly identical to the Associated Press and Coaches Polls.

Last season wasn’t unique, either. The only three major conference teams to finish with one loss in 2015 (Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State) all made the playoff.

In 2014, Florida State — the only undefeated team — made the playoff, along with three one-loss teams.

So when the committee pretends to have rules and principles and a set of beliefs in early November, it’s really just drumming up ratings and creating arguments for fans to have before the final ranking is released in December.

And by then, all the undefeated teams will be grouped together at the top, followed by the one-loss teams and the two-loss teams, etc.

The groups will then be sorted by asking two questions:

1) Did you win your conference title?

2) How big is your brand?

In 2014, Baylor, TCU, Ohio State, Oregon and Alabama finished with one loss.

The latter three teams won their conference championship games and have three of the biggest brands in the sport, so it wasn’t a surprise when all three landed in the playoff.

The same will happen this season.

The SEC (Alabama, Auburn or Georgia) and ACC (Clemson or Miami) champions will almost assuredly receive two of the spots.

After that, it will be a battle of one-loss teams.

So until the final poll is released next month, save yourself the trouble when the committee releases its rankings each week. 

There is no secret formula.

Committee members aren’t hunkered down in their bunker, rummaging through game film and dissecting offensive line play.

They’re performing like a Civic: Boring and predictable.