Quote:They could make it Top 6 conference champions + two at-large bids.
That Is giving auto-bids to 5 P5s + 1 G5. Whether once every 7 years a Top G5 is above the lowest Top P5 Champ due to a conf upset, is moot. There's really never going to be an exception where the 2nd Best G5 Conf Champ is better than the worse P5 Conf Champ. In such a rarity -- like a P5 division favorite being banned from post-season and their second best sucks, and upsets the other P5 division champ to win the P5 Conference... all while 2 G5 Conf Champs are above them -- yeah, that's a technicality nobody would expect and only once a couple decades or more, would that happen.
That no-real-effect technicality wouldn't change the perception of reality. It'd be 5 P5 Champs + 1 G5 Champ as the auto-bids, since there'd Top 6 Conf Auto-bids in your scenario.
But I wouldn't expect that at all. I get where you're coming from: A respect that the Top G5 Champ is always within the realm of at least 1 P5 Conf Champ, basically year in year out. But I do not see it that way, but more importantly I'm darn sure They don't see it that way.
I would see another different "wording", in a way. After all, for a small # team PLAYOFF -- not just a bowl in a spotlight where you then have 12 teams for the big ones, but instead, only 8 for a chance for a National Championship -- there's More emphasis on being Ranked, and more push-away for being on the outside of upper rankings!
Instead, I would see with your "6" approach: Up to Top 6 Conference Champions will get auto-bid IF within Top 12. At-larges fill the rest by ranking, with
*no more than 2 teams from the same conference, unless 3rd team is within the Top 4 (opens things up for other conference at-larges + not trying to be a partial replay of a conference's end-of-season run for their conf title).
Which basically says a Vast majority of the time, 5 P5 Conference Champs will get an auto-bid, and minority of the time, a Top G5 can squeeze in there.
Again, it took there to be 12 teams in the "BCS/NY" bowls to bring in a Top G5 no-matter-what. 10 didn't cut it, but granted it was G4 then. For a playoff with only 8, why in the world would they be taking in an auto Top G5 Conf winner regardless of ranking? If anything, they'd have stipulations against a P5 Conf Winner who was ranked Too Too low.
That's the worry about an 8 team playoff. Now, if they said Top 6 Conference Champions would get an auto-bid IF within the Top 16? Okay. Even undefeated #15 WMU @13-0 would have made it, as would have others in the post-Super-Boise years (2012+), with only 2 since then missing out of the Top 16. I could deal with that. But I wouldn't at all see them doing that.
EDIT: With only 8 teams in a Nat Champ Playoffs in the spotlight, it'd kill the "eliteness" of the BCS/NY bowls, of those other 4 teams that didn't make it to said Playoffs. They'd be on the same level of the Outback Bowl that's played on NY, but it's not an elite "BCS" bowl on NY. Maybe on NYE, maybe on NY. Nice bowls, but not "elite" anymore. So I think what they'd do though to throw G5 a bone: The (many) years a G5 does not make the 8-team playoff (ranked #12 or better), the Top G5 would get one of those "NY" bowls. Compared to this year, they'd play a Penn State and the like, it would be a great bowl to have -- but still wouldn't be as good as the current setup.
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*If one has solid doubts they'd do the 2-conf-team MAX in 8-team playoff unless 3rd is in Top #4, then they Surely wouldn't give an auto-bid to a G5 Champ regardless of ranking. Because not having a conference team max rule would mean all they care about is ranking.