Wither a playoff...

My two cents on a College Football Playoff...worth every penny!   Unless it includes ONLY conference champions, I'm not interested.  

Yes, I realize that the SEC routinely has two or three of the top ten teams in the nation.   But limiting it to conference champions-only would create unprecedented excitement at the various conference championship games, which would become the equivalent of national quarterfinals.
Think of this scenario.   #1 Alabama and  #2 Florida square off for the SEC Championship.   If at-large teams are allowed into the National Playoff, the SEC Championship simply becomes at battle for seeding...much like every one of the major-conference basketball tournaments.  
Say what you will about the storied Duke-North Carolina rivalry in basketball, but their regular-season and conference tournament games are essentially for bragging rights only.   Both are going to make the NCAA tournament field each year.  The only question is will they be a one-two-or-three seed.

Because of this the ACC will NEVER be able to duplicate the excitement the conference tournament generated when only the winner advanced.   The much-ballyhooed 1974 title game between N.C. State and Maryland is remembered in large part because the loser was stuck in the NIT.  Now THAT'S pressure.
Whether you realize it or not, that "winner-takes-all" scenario is what makes college football so attractive.   It's why fans like me lose sleep over regular-season games that determine if you have a shot at the Crystal Football Trophy or the Music City Bowl Trophy.   A champions-only playoff maintains that pressure while giving us an undisputed National Champion.
I know the devil is in the details.  Will it be a four-team playoff or eight teams?   If it's conference champions only, then which conferences?   What about the existing bowl games...what role will they play?   Good questions, one and all.
But any playoff that allows at-large teams to play for the ultimate title will be a pale simulacrum of the existing system, and subject us to endless hours of arguing which at-large teams get hosed.   No thanks...the basketball tournament has that market cornered.