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We definitely disagree, and I don't think this is necessarily true.  If that 9-4 Northwestern team actually knocks off 12-1 Clemson and 13-0 Alabama 2 weeks in a row, as you fear, then I don't think there's any "clear delineation" at all.  I'd say your subjective view was completely wrong.  Nothing personal, humans are fallible and prone to bias and agenda.

So eliminate them.  Completely.  One clear goal-- win your conference and you're in.  Everyone knows exactly what it will take.  Seems absolutely fair to me.

I don’t fear that. I certainly don’t think any potential times we’ve come close to that that any of those teams stood a chance. 
What I fear is those teams taking up space that another team that would have a chance and not getting it just because they had a single mishap but were in a more competitive conf/div. 

I've been saying it for years...

8 teams
5 P5 champs
Best G5 team
2 at-large selections

First and foremost, it makes conference championships matter. So what if your team sneaks into the CCG with an 8-4 (6-2) record, by virtue of tiebreakers for your division, and then beats the 12-0 team from the other division? You won your conference. You're in.

That now 12-1 team that you narrowly edged in the CCG game? They didn't win their conference, but they're in decently good shape for an at-large berth at least.

It satisfies the G5 crowd. Sure, that team is a sacrificial lamb to most likely the 1 seed in the CFP. But at least they have a seat at the table.

And 2 at large berths allow for teams that truly ARE special, but didn't win their conference.

It makes too much sense, I know, so I'm not holding out hope it'll happen.

I'd rather go back to 2 teams than go to 8.
Going to 4 teams hasn't resolved the disputes about which teams are "worthy," and going to 8 teams won't either.  Every time the playoff is expanded, the regular season is weakened.

This was guaranteed to be messy the moment an entity with 5 major conferences chose a playoff with 4 spots.  F- Notre Dame...but all of you dismissing them with "they can join a conference", guess what?  They're not going to.  Nor will they ever be made to.  That's a lazy reaction to the real issue of the Irish.




An 8-team playoff, however its constructed, will produce a 3-loss national champion (on a long-enough timeline).  It's virtually guaranteed.  Have fun with that.  
Let's just give the trophy to a 9-7 team like the NFL!




This is for the title of best team in the country.  Yes, let's make it exclusive (not inclusive).  

This was guaranteed to be messy the moment an entity with 5 major conferences chose a playoff with 4 spots.  F- Notre Dame...but all of you dismissing them with "they can join a conference", guess what?  They're not going to.  Nor will they ever be made to.  That's a lazy reaction to the real issue of the Irish.




An 8-team playoff, however its constructed, will produce a 3-loss national champion (on a long-enough timeline).  It's virtually guaranteed.  Have fun with that. 
Let's just give the trophy to a 9-7 team like the NFL!




This is for the title of best team in the country.  Yes, let's make it exclusive (not inclusive). 

This is true of every playoff in every sport in every year, ever.  The "best team in the country" isn't going to lose to a 9-4 scrub.  If they do, they weren't the best.  Win the playoff games, earn the title.  Really simple stuff.

So lose OOC game to an average team?  Sure!  No prob!
Lose a conference game to a top 10 team?  Don't you dare!  




Hard pass.

I don’t fear that. I certainly don’t think any potential times we’ve come close to that that any of those teams stood a chance.
What I fear is those teams taking up space that another team that would have a chance and not getting it just because they had a single mishap but were in a more competitive conf/div.

But that's where the at large comes in. You give room for conference non-champions that are worthy teams. 

Sports as a whole are a sliding scale of competition (finding out who's best - ie...for the players/coaches/etc) vs entertainment (for the fans buying a ticket).  Yes, the entertainment matters, as otherwise, football games with no one watching don't have rankings and playoffs and billions of dollars.





But without the competition aspect, it doesn't work, either.  It's only entertaining because of the competition (although some people might like football because of the pretty colors or tight pants).  Akin to Herm Edwards' "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME" - the fans watch to "SEE WHO WINS THE GAME" and how.  



As a sliding scale, it can move up and down - towards and away from either end (competition/entertainment), but it may not get too close to either end.  At the expense of either end, the game loses meaning.  If it's all about competition, you sort of get what baseball was this year (HR derby disguised as the game of baseball) and it's not as fun to watch.  If it's all about entertainment, (like college basketball), it doesn't really matter who ends up winning...which saps the motivation of the competitors themselves.




I'm simply wary of the scale tipping too far towards the entertainment side of things.  It's not about "SEC vs the world" or anything like that.  I just want the best team to be deemed the champion as often as possible - with the best team being the best combination of roster and results.  This does NOT include rewarding them fully for winning this set of games (conf) and ignoring losing this other set of games (OOC).