I really like the 8 "groupings" of 10 teams that all play each other and the winner goes to the playoffs. I'd do it without divisions and make 1 and 2 in each group play a championship game. I shy away from calling it conferences, because I think it maybe needs some tweaking each year. Obviously, this means blowing the whole thing up. For football at least, no more SEC, ACC, Big 10, etc.
There are lots of different good ideas, but the more and more I think about it, we need to take the "eye test" out of the equation. It's great for us because we generally get the benefit of the doubt because we are Alabama, but I understand why other fans are fed up with the idea.
I am for anything that guarantees undefeated teams get a shot at the title. I am not for colleges hiring PR firms in the hopes they get a shot. The sort of campaigning is going to happen every year until we make it a definitive, on the field criteria to get in.