I think when they guaranteed the byes for conference champs, they underestimated (or ignored) the enormous gap in quality between the top teams in the SEC/B1G and the top teams in the ACC/Big12/Etc.
To be fair, last year the final top five were the champions of each P5 conference (Michigan, Washington, Texas, Bama, FSU). That would've been more or less the case for most of the last decade when you consistently had Oklahoma and Clemson representing the Big 12 and ACC at the top of the charts, and in the four-game playoff.
But then this year Texas and Washington (or, in their place, Oregon) are in the SEC/B1G, the ACC's powers have faded and the Big 12 is just loaded with programs that are decent but have hardly ever competed at an elite level. Only one current Big 12 team ever made the four-team CFP: TCU in 2022.
So, yeah, it's kind of bullshit that those conferences are locked in to top four seeds while the loser of Oregon vs. Ohio State (probably the two best teams in the country based this year, based on resume) will be 5th, and us and Texas/Georgia loser and Tennessee and Penn State will be seeded behind teams that we would certainly be favored to beat. But, this can all change and probably will.