re: The playoff is broken. It needs to expand to 8.

If you give Power 5 teams automatic bids, we’ll be right back here again talking about the haves/have nots disparity.

Try this:

1) quarterfinals: 4 major bowls; go down the list of top 25 teams. Seed as many conference champions as you can in the top 25. For right now exclude lower-ranked co-champions. If there are still seeds left to be filled, go back to the top and start putting in the co-champions you left off. If there are still seeds left to be filled. Go back to the top and put in the highest ranked at-large teams.*
2) semifinals; at highest-seeded teams’ stadiums.
3) national championship; could be a neutral venue or at the stadium of highest-seeded team.

*if an at-large team is in the top 3, they auto-qualify, with seed being no higher than the lowest ranked conference champion.

Edit: Just to test out this system, here’s how it would have gone this year:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. Cincinnati
6. Coastal Carolina
7. Louisiana
8. San Jose State

Unfortunately, Texas A&M and Notre Dame wouldn’t have made it this year, as all 8 spots would have been taken up by conference champions. But sometimes, them’s the breaks for not winning your conference.