Was the committee putting LSU #2 all for money?

There is a part of me that believes the committee put LSU #2 because they want the OSU vs Joe Burrow match up in the final. Apart form being a great narrative it's also fantastic for business.

So what would be the most likely outcome to make that happend? Make LSU play Clemson who has a better chance of beating them then OSU. Doing it early helps alleviate the fall out, but after the conference championships it would have been outrageous to keep it that way.