[StrikeoutKing]

Conference Champions should be automatic bids, IMO, like a few others have said. EVERY conference, not just BCS; Mountain West, C-USA, Sun Belt, etc. That would be 11 conference champions plus an independent representative, which makes 12. Add 4 more teams selected by the fans. Why the fans? The fans are the ones who watch highlights, who look at scores, and who see just about every game that is played. Have the 4 "vote in" teams seeded by number of votes, and have the conferences draw to see which conference champion or "vote in" team they play. You'll have 16 teams, 4 rounds, and one clear cut champion. It'd take what, maybe 4, 5 weeks at the most? And with it not taking so long to compete, you could still have a number of bowl games for teams who did not make the "Playoff."