Here's my thoughts and no way in the world would it ever happen due to the bowls getting minimized even if they used a rotating system or bowls as playoff sites.
All football teams go into 8 conferences with one or two conferences being the mid major schools. Play 11 game season with 8 games being in conference. Each conference has a conference championship game from two divisions inside each conference. Once all that is done and over with on the same weekend take a week off (or maybe no) then use the ranking playoff committee being used now to rank the teams 1-16 and go with a playoff from that.
Things to consider -
1. Can two conference champs meet up in the first round?
2. Can two schools from same conference meet in the first round?
At the end of the day no system is perfect and there will always be someone on the outside looking in saying they got screwed. At least in this scenario you create more opportunities to earn your way into a chance which is what the mid majors want and deserve. I still think Marshall should not be punished for having a bad day especially at the end of the season. Yes there is the argument that the number three teams in the SEC are better than anybody in the mid major conferences but oh well. Can't make everyone happy.