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Looks like a system that doesn't believe 3 of the top 8 teams in the country could possibly reside in the same conference.  
Cute.

No, it's a system that assigns value to a conference championship. Even the NFL puts all division champions to the playoffs.
Nobody is saying that the 2 at-large teams can't be from the same conference, in addition to their conference champion, for 3 total teams in the playoffs. It'll be rare, sure, but it can happen. 
But it's not about the 8 best teams in the country. It's about the 8 teams that have earned their shot. 5 of those teams earned it by winning their conference. 

In retrospect I didn't do a very good job of keeping that short, sorry.  

Looks like a system that doesn't believe 3 of the top 8 teams in the country could possibly reside in the same conference.  
Cute.

I always found this logic interesting. 
Are you looking for the best team? Or are you looking for the best field and letting the chips fall where they may? You’re a purist for he field, some want/see a different structure. 

I've said before that I'm in favor of a system that has clear criteria upon which to qualify for the playoff. 

In the NFL, we've got that. Win your division, you're in. Don't win your division but have one of the two best records in your conference, you get in via wild card. You control your own destiny.

MLB? Win your division, you're in. Don't win your division? You can still qualify via wild card. You control your own destiny.

NBA? Top 8 record in your conference, you're in. This is too many teams IMHO, but you know based on looking at the standings sheet whether you qualify. You control your own destiny.

These sports all have a clear path to eligibility for the championship.

Then let's look at CFB:

Pre-1998: Who knows? If you won the beauty contest of voters at the end of the year, BOOM! you're the champion! Note that during this time there could be multiple undefeated teams, but only one of them would be champion. So you don't control your own destiny.

1998-2013: Same, except you have to finish top 2 in the beauty contest after regular season / CCG, and then you get a chance to play for the playoffs. Note that during this time there could be >2 undefeated teams at the end of the regular season / CCG, so you don't control your own destiny to get into the BCSCG.

2014-present: Same, except you have to finish top 4 in the beauty contest after regular season / CCG. While it's astronomically unlikely an undefeated team from P5 conference will be excluded from the CFP, there is no way absent going undefeated that you control your own destiny. And obviously winning your conference means nothing, as teams who haven't won conferences or even played in their CCG have gotten in over P5 conference winners. So you don't control your own destiny. 

It's one thing to say you want to have the "best" teams, but with so little interleague play, determining who the "best" teams are is a very tricky proposition. In 2014, OSU nearly missed the playoff, and only got in because the B12 didn't have a "true" champion. Then they won the whole thing. 

So that's why I want P5 conference champions included. Even if they're from a P5 conference that's incredibly weak. Even if it's some year that Purdue sneaks into the CCG at 8-4 with 2 OOC losses and somehow wins a 2-loss in conference tiebreaker in the B1G West and then barely squeaks by the undefeated B1G East champion [we'll say OSU] who took them too lightly. Yeah, they'll probably get smoked in the first round of the playoff when the committee gives them the 8 seed and they face Alabama. And OSU will probably still be in there as a 3 seed in the playoff anyway. 

But if you don't have a clear path, what happens if Purdue goes 12-1, winning their CCG, against what is perceived as a weak schedule, and winning several games by the skin of their teeth, and gets edged out by the 1-loss champions from ACC/B12/P12 and 2-loss SEC champ Alabama? Am I just supposed to say "OK" because Purdue isn't a helmet like Alabama is?

I like controversy.

We're headed out of the country tomorrow, not that it matters, but I won't be posting whatever happens.

Maybe tomorrow, we're staying one night in Miami.

Got upgraded to FC, yay, because of the wife.

First time for everything.

I don't disagree, but I think "helmet" gets tossed around too often and often it's in the place of "all available evidence".  
Take 2011, where many thought Oklahoma State should get a shot because Alabama already had theirs.  But in every single possible metric, from schedule to recruiting stars to waterboy salaries to potential draft picks to the Dunkel Index to the eye test to blah blah blah, Alabama was the better team.  But someone merely not wanting to watch a rematch could just claim "helmet" and go on about their business.

It's about access. 

That year, OkSU beat 4 ranked teams. Alabama beat 4 ranked teams. Well, 5 if you count that Georgia Southern was ranked 3 in FCS in week 11... 
OkSU played 9 conference games. Alabama played 8.
OkSU played 1 P5 OOC. Alabama played 1 P5 OOC and 1 FCS OOC.
Alabama lost to #1 LSU. OkSU lost to unranked Iowa State.
Now, it's very likely Alabama was the "best team in the country". But it's not like their resume was overwhelmingly better than OkSU's. And yeah, OkSU had a letdown game in week 11 against Iowa State. But Alabama was playing an FCS team that week, so it's not like they were "challenging" themselves. It's not like people thought Iowa State was actually better than OkSU. 
The argument there wasn't helmet. The argument was that Alabama already had their chance. They'd had their chance to prove they were better than LSU, on the field, and came up short. Seems like it would be better to let another team--a team that LSU hadn't already beaten--get a crack. 

And no, I do not want the 7th or 8th-best team in the country crowned the national champion.  

Say what you want about the historic 'mythical' national champion...they were never 8th-best in the country.

I'm not worried if the champion is the "best" team in the country. I want it to be the team that earned the championship.
If in the NCAA tournament, a 16-seed goes on a tear through the field and wins it all, I'm not going to call them the "best team in the country". I'll still call them the national champions though.