What I am about to type is a mix of views I’ve held for a long time mixed with a brand new wildly different view as a result of this year’s playoff.
OP is completely wrong about CFP ruining college football. We had a few cheating teams dominating college football for the last 15 years. That was way way worse than now. It sucked.
The current money situation with a lack of structure is what is making it a mess. The CFP is the best, albeit incomplete, attempt at delivering a reasonably fair, entertaining product. However, it needs one more tweak, a tweak I was completely against until now.
The playoff needs to expand to 13-16 teams from the current 12. Texas has shown that a team with 3 losses on a tough schedule is capable of winning it all. And so a team like Texas should get in. A 14 team playoff should address every scenario of teams that deserve a shot.
It doesn’t fix the money issue, but that is separate from the actual playoff.