It makes sense to get it down to Four Major conferences, it makes the playoff system even easier. You can essentially devise a system to have conference semi-finals and the Conference Championship game with the four winners going to the National Semifinals. So right there, is your 16-team playoff.
My point might not have been clear. I'm disgusted with the Big 12 but really... something needs to change at the NCAA level before "some other controlling legal authority" invites itself onto the scene.