Basically, the only things holding college football back from a playoff are...
The money guys behind the bowls fearing that change will make them less profitable and the conference guys afraid that sane open competition will take away the arbitrary power of this conference or that.
Eight team playoff, take the four BCS bowls rotate them through the playoffs, every year one of them gets the final, two of them get the semifinal and one of them gets whichever of the quarterfinals they decide is the most interesting television draw... the other three quarterfinals go permanently to the three second-tier bowls with the longest traditions or whatever.
Quarterfinals Christmas week, semis the "traditional" New Years week, the final the week after that.
The six BCS conference champions get six spots, the next best two teams get the other two spots.
All the other crap bowls can still be the consolation games they've been since the BCS started to begin with.
Real. Real. Easy.
Except for the money.
Of course none of this applies to me as a 'Cuse alum as they are the worst team in the least-major of the major conferences.
They ain't goin' nowhere.