Originally the bowls were invitational exhibition games, with any national titles granted beforehand. They were purely entertainment value and never intended to be methods to determine a national champion. They system incrementally changed over time to become more inclusive and fairer, but it's instructive to understand the business side to it all. The committee's role is to blend the business interests with as much fairness and inclusion as business will allow. They come up with talking points and rationales to hide the blunt fact that they don't want certain teams either because the media cannot promote for a month certain teams and matchups (e.g. an FSU team without Jordan) or because the bowls sites and chambers of commerce don't believe they will get their money's worth from their fans. Not only that, they don't want another "deserving" team like TCU last season to get blown out or fail to provide sufficient entertainment for 4 quarters for ratings purposes. It's a tough pill for FSU fans to swallow, but their team without Jordan, who could provide a treasure trove of discussion topics for the media in addition to quality play on the field, was a liability without him for a system that needs an audience.
My question for all the upset FSU fans out there: how many of them would have been willing to attend a semifinal game in Cali or Texas without their precious QB available to play???? My guess is not many, and the rest of the country would have not watched another 16-6 type game with an unknown true freshman QB.