[The Horrible Esthete]

The only problem is that conference champions deserve to get in from the major conferences.

I generally agree, but the fact is that if you ARE a major conf. champ, you WILL be one of the Top 8 unless your conference is uncharacteristically poor. This year might be atypical in that the Big 12 and ACC may not be represented in the Top 8 under BCS-style rankings, but that's because every team in both leagues has 2 or more losses except Wake Forest (imagine that!). Both leagues are mediocre at BEST this year, and have no dominant teams. If WF finishes with just 1 loss, they will probably be in that Top 8, and rightfully so.

How would you like it if Ohio St. (or anyone else) won the Big Ten championship and finished #9 or lower in the BCS standings.

It simply could not happen unless that Big 10 Champ had 2 or more losses, at least one of which coming to a weak opponent. In that case, I honestly would be just fine with it.

The 6 BCS conferences (Big East, Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Pac 10, SEC) need the automatic berths, then somehow Notre Dame needs to be worked in. I say you have 10 teams, #1 and #2 deserve byes, the 6 conference champs get in, as do the next 4 highest ranked teams in the BCS standings

That's not a bad outline, tk, but I still shy away from automatic berths for conf. champs. I think that in most years, at least 1 of the major 6 conferences does not have a team good enough to be considered one of the best 8 in the country. In every case, berths need to be earned, not just awarded, imo.