having a more fair and balanced playoff bracket that allows for underdog teams get some upsets and go on their own little cinderella runs? Wouldn't there be more casual fans willing to tune in for those matchups and wouldn't there be opportunities for more buzz over different talking points and storylines to be generated?

If that's what makes March Madness so magical, why wouldn't it work for football? How is it that SEC in particular can weld so much power and influence over the TV networks rather than the other way around? Make the regular season mean something. Conference games should serve as preliminary "play in" games for the playoff. If you can't win your way to the top two spots in your conference, then you aren't deserving of any special treatment to get in over other teams that have better records and better resumes.