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I admit I am an old fart, I like the old bowl system, where winning the Big Ten and getting the Rose Bowl mattered. Then lets argue who is the best team in the country.

However, we are never going back to that, so if we are going to have a playoff go to 6 teams (5 power conference winners and 1 additional team) and no more. . . .

Oh, you mean 5 power-conference winners plus a second SEC team. 

Don't forget Clemson.

Or if you're old school:
Rose:  B10 vs PAC
Fiesta:  Independent vs SEC
Cotton:  SWC vs SEC
Orange:  Big 8 vs SEC
Sugar:  SEC vs Sacrificial Lamb

The way I look at it, there are really only two options:

• The old system where we all agreed that the national championship was based on human subjectivity.
• A system where it gets settled "on the field" and there's one, true, undisputed champion.

I'm fine with #1.

But neither the BCS nor the CFP are a good example of #2. 

The way I look at it, there are really only two options:

• The old system where we all agreed that the national championship was based on human subjectivity.
• A system where it gets settled "on the field" and there's one, true, undisputed champion.

I'm fine with #1.

But neither the BCS nor the CFP are a good example of #2.

I don’t get why the BCS or CFP isn’t a good example of settling it on the field.  It is settled on the field. You might not agree with the process of how the teams get there but it is settled on the field.

I don’t get why the BCS or CFP isn’t a good example of settling it on the field.  It is settled on the field. You might not agree with the process of how the teams get there but it is settled on the field.

Because it's only "settled on the field" in the final game or three.
The major talking point leading up to the adoption of the playoff was "settle it on the field."
Repeated over and over again as if it were a magical incantation.
As if nothing had ever been settled on the field until the BCS NCG or CFP.
But--back to the case we were discussing--who was better between LSU and Bama in 2011 had presumably already been settled on the field.  Where is the "settling it on the field" when LSU would have had to beat Bama twice to be national champs, but Bama only had to beat LSU once?

Any time you feature two top teams on a neutral field, you usually are down to who gets a few breaks in the game.  It doesn't really settle which team is genuinely better.