I'll add that another factor would be the decline of the SEC. If they're (or any other conference) not consistently not having two teams good enough to make the playoffs, having conference champions only becomes more likely.
I agree, but I think the Big 10 becomes that conference in 5-10 years, and will be pushing for the non-champions requirement. Unlike the Big 12, who actually supported this requirement, and who realistically has 2 programs (Texas and Oklahoma) capable of sustaining a BCS level of excellence over a period of time, the Big 10 has at least 5:
OSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Nebraska and also Wisconsin, who may have reached their ceiling in the last 2 years but theyve been a force recently. All the aforementioned programs except michigan state are on the rise, and Sparty's been pretty damn good, could realistically be BCS this year. And we all know how stubborn the Big 10 was while it wasn't winning, I see Mr. Delaney absolutely bludgeoning people with his leverage if this situation comes to pass.
On a slightly unrelated note, I can legitimately see a situation in which the Big East finally stabilizes, with football being relegated to a Mountain West sort of conference but the basketball and olympic sports staying prominent. And if ACC instability continues, I think there is a legitimate case to be made that the relatively big-time basketball programs in the big east (ND, Marquette, UConn, Louisville, etc) get together with UNC and Duke and create a basketball superconference like the Big East was originally supposed to be, with no one really paying attention to football.
