There is no perfect system; this one certainly ain’t it. A few thoughts:
1. The Committee didn’t choose Tulane and James Madison over Notre Dame. The selection criteria that required 5 conference champions is what chose Tulane and James Madison. The Committee had no control over that. The Committee actually chose Alabama and Miami over ND (for the last 2 discretionary picks).
2. The “5 conference champions” was intended to let 1 non-power conference team in. Now that 2 such teams got in this year, look for the SEC and the Big 10 to exercise their power and further restrict access for the little guys.
3. We are not going back to “the bowls,” but if we did, we should go back to when there were 4-5 big ones, and a few others. Not like now, with 40+ bowls, and every 6-6 team gets an invite, as well as a few 5-7 teams. But people wanted a “real” champion, not the top 4 teams playing in 4 separate bowls. More importantly, with the amounts of money at stake, there won’t be any going back.
4. Look for more teams to opt out of bowls (like ND) and stop scheduling tough non-conference games (like Texas is threatening).
5. Last year the top 4 seeds (the teams that got a bye) all lost their 1st playoff game. If that happens again, look for more of a push for 16 teams, with no byes.
6. I have pondered the question: what is the biggest change in sports in my lifetime (I am 59)? I don’t think it’s free agency, or multimillionaire players, or even college players getting paid. I think those are symptoms. I think the biggest change is that the pro leagues, and the college revenue sports, figured out how to properly monetize their products. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but having succeeded, they couldn’t keep pro salaries low or continue to not pay college players - they had to share the wealth
One thing that is out of whack is head coach salaries in college.
Colleges are now more structuring their programs like NFL teams, so that success isn’t so much dependent on the head coaches.