if you get rid of at-larges then OOC becomes 100% completely meaningless.
Right. That's why I like 8. Having a tough OOC becomes insurance against dropping an conference game to a team you think you should beat. It helped OSU last year and OU this year.
Yup, and I am right there. Also on #teamnomorethan8. It ends up being the best of all worlds. No bitching about P5 Confy Champs getting left out, and winning your conference means something. No bitching about the G5 not having at least 1 guaranteed spot, and no bitching from schools who have a WTF game they shouldn't have lost, or lost a tight game to another really good team. Essentially you have a mulligan, and as chings points out, it still makes the OOC matter, since it can put you in over other potentially worthy schools. Anything beyond 8 ends up becoming unwieldy and you serious have to consider dropping at least 1 OOC game.