This system would still keep the current bowl system and just incorporate the four-team playoff into the major bowl games, where traditional bowl tie-ins would still apply, while conference runner-ups would get automatic bids to other bowls. The BCS system would not change much at all.
In essence this is the "plus one" game that many people said that they would be open to in the first place. You could still keep the tradition of the Rose Bowl, as that would be a semifinal game every year as the showdown between the Pac-10 and Big Ten champs, while the SEC and Big 12 would have a showdown in the Fiesta as has been custom in the past.
The other major bowls could be filled with the conference runner-ups, and the same bowl system would still be intact. This is something that almost became a reality this offseason with the plus one format.
The slight difference is that condensing the conferences down to four super-conferences makes it a perfect system that would work every time, rather than it just being another system that is labeled as the lesser of two evils.
The way that college football would be restructured would aim to meet the following goals.
1. Structure college football into four super-conferences, which I call the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-10, which contain either four divisions of four teams per division or two divisions of eight teams per division.
The conference champion could be determined in the same sort of manner that the Big 12, ACC, and SEC currently are in the case the conferences are split into two divisions. It could also be determined in a four-team mini-playoff format if the conference is structured into four divisions.
2. Keep as many rivalries in the same conference as possible. No team would have multiple rivals outside of their conference. There would only be one maximum OOC rival. The goal would be to renew rivalries of the past and to maintain current rivalries.
3. Make conferences as equal in strength as possible. This will give the conferences an SEC-like effect in terms of schedule strength and feeling of accomplishment of winning a conference championship.
This would be the equivalent of making the Final Four in basketball. Winning your division would be the equivalent of making the Sweet 16. This system would still make every game of the season important due to the fact that conference seeding would be on the line.
One of the casualties that come along with playing in a weaker conference is that the value and appreciation that comes with winning that conference's championship gets diminished as the strength of the conference diminishes. Super-conferences would make conference championships mean a lot more.
At the same time, in a four-division system, a division championship would be something that could be in reach most years for the good teams.
4. Structure the conferences and divisions in a way that is geographically friendly to the teams that play in them.
5. Balance the combined economic strength of the teams in their respective conferences.
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