I'm gonna be honest here - my suspicion was NOT the same as a lot of folks here have or at least not for the same reason. I suspected the reason for the committee was to provide cover to select a big name team (oh, I'll just use Ohio State for example) over the nobodies (oh, I'll just use TCU and Baylor for example). I figured it was a way to get the biggest ca$h cow and exclude the Boise States of the world with a more convoluted argument (not that they should have been included in the first place but anyway).
When I first heard about the selection of Ohio State that was my IMMEDIATE thought - 'yep, they did this to get the big name program in there and keep out the riff-raff like TCU and Baylor; if this was Texas or OU, guess what?'
I may have been too hasty in that assessment since after you lined them up it was nearly impossible to keep Ohio State OUT of the playoff. And the other three certainly belonged, nobody disagreed on that one.
But to me you just don't need a "committee;" just keep the old BCS and take 1-4 and let it fall where it may.
