Eight teams. 5 power conferences and 3 at large.
Eight teams. 5 power conferences, the top non-power conference champion, and the next 2 at large.
Then EVERY team has an actual chance from Day One. Taking the next 3 (Bama, PSU, USC) still leaves out UCF and the only 12-0 season in football this year. Adding in at least one Non-5 winner makes every season a Cinderella possibility, and makes every game and every conference relevant.
As for "fake Championship"... the current playoff is still FAR better than the Popularity Contest we had in Division I for the previous century. Even last year, 3 outlets still chose Alabama as the National Champion, despite the loss to Clemson in the title game. (The Congrove, Colley, and Dunkel systems, which are 3 of the computer systems used in the rankings today.)
It is really such a simple solution and make college FB the premier sporting event of the year. Every conference game would matter and the Championships would actually be the first round.