Here is how it has to go down.

16 team playoff (4 games)

Shorten the season back to the 11 games they had as a standard. Teams may not play FCS teams to pad the schedule with easy opponents. You can keep the conferences how they are or change them in some way but it is probably more likely to occur if you leave it alone. You require every conference to play a championship game and you also force the independents (namely the Irish) to join a conference or not be invited. You then take the conference champion from each conference to give you 11 teams in the playoffs. That leaves 5 at-large bids. These are going to be like the NCAA March Madness selections. They have to be teams that showed incredible presence during the season and could very easily be conference champions. This can include teams that tie in a division or lost the championship game but have showed enough presence during the season to earn a spot. The seeding can be done one of two ways. The fairest would be random, however people would still whine. Therefore you take the oldest way of doing it and seed according to the AP. Conference champions get seeds 1-11 and the at large teams get seeds 12-16. A maximum of three per conference can participate in the playoff to allow a chance for multiple teams of great caliber to play in it. The first round games are to be played the week following the championship games (which would be the last week of November since the season is a week shorter). These games are to be played in the venue of the higher seeded team (thus assuring that a conference champion plays each game at home). Teams with stadiums seating less than an adequate amount of people must find an adequate neutral site that will be there home venue. The second round will also be played in the previous format. The third round will be played at neutral sites seating more than the number established above at the closest distance to equal between the competing schools. If an advantage of more than one-fourth of the distance is awarded it must be to the home team. The national championship game will be at a designated stadium that is picked prior to the season. There will be two alternatives in the case that a team that is virtually a home team would be playing that is the lower seed. (i.e. is Georgia Tech was the lower seed and the game was in the Georgia Dome). This will maintain the spirit of fairness to higher seeded teams. However, if the team that is higher seeded were to play in their own backyard then we chalk that one up as luck.
Tickets to each game will be offered through schools beginning at midnight ET on the Sunday before the game. All tickets are to be sold through schools with a minimum of a 65/35 split between home and visitor until wednesday at which time the home team can request that tickets be returned that are unsold by the visitor in the case that they are sold out. The away team can also request more in increments of 500 if they sell out before the home team. The tickets for the final two rounds will be split 50/50 and be sold that way up until kickoff where they can be purchased at the gate if it is not a sell out.
Now to put this all down easily so everyone can understand me i will put this years scenario and how it would work out without making bold predictions.
Teams:
1. Florida (SEC Champ)
2. Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ)
3. USC (Pac 10 Champ)
4. Penn State (Big 10 Champ)
5. Utah (Mountain West Champ)
6. Boise State (WAC Champ)
7. Cincinnati (Big East Champ)
8. Virginia Tech (ACC Champ)
9. Buffalo (MAC Champ)
10. Troy (Sun Belt Champ)
11. East Carolina (C*USA Champ)
12. Texas
13. Alabama
14. Texas Tech
15. Ohio State
16. Georgia Tech (over TCU)

Round 1: (games with numbers in parenthesis winner’s play each other_
Georgia Tech @ Florida (1)
Ohio State @ Oklahoma (2)
Texas Tech @ USC (3)
Alabama @ Penn State (4)
Texas @ Utah (4)
East Carolina @ Boise State (3)
Troy @ Cincinnati (2)
Buffalo @ Virginia Tech (1)

Round 2: (Here is where i start guessing wins)
Virginia Tech @ Florida (1)
Cincinnati @ Oklahoma (2)
East Carolina @ USC (2)
Alabama @ Texas (1)

Round 3:
Texas @ Florida
USC @ Oklahoma

Round 4 (National Championship):
Oklahoma @ Florida

Yes it comes out the same but there is still the fact that everyone knows what they must do to win it all. If you win your conference you have a chance, otherwise if you show that you could have won your conference you have second life. This provides excitement that will surpass march madness as december delirium. Why wouldn’t anyone love to see this and the most games you will play is 16 (a regular NFL season) and is over before the second semester and most basketball conference play.