re: Thinking about the four team playoff, how long until we get to eight?

4 isn't enough, 6 isn't enough.

What happens when you have a killer division and the top 3 teams go 11-1 with losses to each other and to no-one else? It could have happened this year in the SEC West.

If you can't solve the 2008 Big 12 equation then you are theoretically leaving the potential best team in the country out of the playoff.

8 team playoff, no divisions, no conference championships. Every power 5 plays 9 conference games and plays their OOC against other Power 5 opponents. We're going to be paying our players so might as well seperate them from the have nots. You have a number of cross conference games that allow you a better idea over which is the top conference. You can now take each conference champion without fear of taking a 3 or 4 loss team, and the teams on the outside looking in played comparable schedules and although they can make an argument for ranking 8-5 they won't be able to claim they are a top 4 team. Like what can happen if you leave out 2 11-1 teams with one loss against a top 5 opponent.