Maybe, but I thought ESPN had the lesser bowls for the most part. I don't think ESPN has particular influence beyond its checkbook. If the 8 teamer generates more revenue for CFB, ESPN wouldn't be a factor, in my view.
I think most folks want an 8 team playoff but we'd still have arguments about who should be #7 and #8 in most years.
This year, if we went by the CFP rankings, we'd have:
LSU - Wisconsin
OSU - Baylor
Clemson - Oregon
Oklahoma - somebody else
Nice games, I'd watch, I'd expect an upset in there somewhere.