And I think that's fine. I have no problem with more than one team being recognized as the "strongest" team in college football. This is especially true when you have so many teams and relatively" so few games.
Even if you ran the whole of Div I-A as a knockout tournament, like the NCAA basketball tournament, it would take 7 weeks to obtain a champion. That would cut the season in half (or more) for most teams and cause their college sports programs financial ruin.
The SEC is a traditionally strong conference, that was off its peak this year. Next year might be different.
They could run a playoffs with the top 12 teams in mid December and January. Then have a National Championship game.