Current NCAA system systematically keeping playoffs exclusive.

I've always thought dropping the scholarship limit to 72 and capping recruiting classes to 23 per year would help as well. Give those 13 scholarships to Olympic sports. 

Obviously the answer is to institute a 32-team draft for the top 320 recruits.

Two things need to happen.  Pay the players (let them profit) and expand the playoffs. The NY6 bowl marketing program is an insult to our intelligence. Everything outside the playoff is a loser game. 

And has ever since the BCS.

More money won't solve the problems caused by already more money.

Enforcing the current rules will.

It seems apparent that some teams are rampantly cheating. OSU's best player just got a pass based on a fairy tale that the agent from whom he took money was a 'family friend'. The meteoric rises of teams like Clemson and Baylor (from one win to one loss?) and the year after year consistency in recruiting rankings are not happenstance, either.

Address the rampant cheating that is concentrating the talent in a few teams by making the consequences tangible (see SMU, NOT missing the Rutgers and Maryland games). Ban coaches who participate in systematic cheating, and above all, ban coaches and administrators who tacitly condone sexual assault.

The framework to address the disparity is there, it's just not enforced in order to keep the piles of money flowing.

Yes, an open market is needed to even the playing field.  Will the likeness profitability change things?  I'm not sure.  But, hopefully that as well as expanding the playoffs eventually will.

We are freaking Michigan, and we bitch that the deck is stacked against us. We get better recruits than 99% of the nation.

The consolidation of talent to the top teams has causes that are bigger than just the playoff. I think a lot of changes have been happening over the last 30 years or so, and the effects are just becoming apparent recently. 

1) Money and TV exposure have given an even bigger advantage to the schools that get it, starting with Notre Dame on NBC, and the first big TV deals of the 80s and 90s, to the BTN and conference networks in the 00s. The big conferences and schools get more and more, and that translates to recruiting success. Big bowl games, ESPN making big investments in college football with Gameday and Saturday night games, and ultimately the playoff all contribute to this. If your favorite school missed it's opportunity to take advantage by one or two bad hires, you basically missed your opportunity to take advantage and it's nearly impossible to catch up. I'm thinking of Michigan, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Texas, Tennessee, and basically the whole Pac-12.

2) With the explosion in money at stake, the NCAA totally lost its incentive and ability to enforce rules. The USC and OSU penalties from a decade ago look quaint now, we all know there is no way that they would happen now. Cheating is rampant because enforcement is non-existent, and the only difference is how far schools are willing to go beyond the line. 

3) Scouting and the recruiting industry have become more advanced, and the intense attention paid is to the advantage of the big schools. Plus, bigger staff budgets mean they can scout and recruit more players than ever before. There are fewer under-the-radar recruits that a lesser program can grab and hold onto. The 4 and 5 stars are now well scouted and internet celebrities by the time they're 17 years old, and the big schools can get them. 

All that said, the OP has a lot of sour grapes. It's true from the perspective of Indiana or MSU, which has always had a built-in disadvantage and has only seen that gap widen. Michigan has all the advantages (maybe with the exception being willingness to blatantly disregard the rules) and can be in that small group of playoff-caliber teams, and possibly would be had we handled the transition from late Carr-era to the early 21st century. In the next 20 years we still can work our way into the group (we're close now, closer than 90% of teams in FBS). It just takes the right combination of competent program administration and luck. 

8 would be good, and I believe at least 2 should come from non-power 5 conferences, or independents (Yes, even Notre Dame).

I never knew what the big deal was about having a true national champion versus opening up the event so that it could be enjoyed by the masses. They should definitely make it 8 teams at the very least, enough so that a slew of teams could sell an opportunity to make the playoff.

Frankly, I am one who thinks college football was better in the old days, where you simply aimed to beat your rival(s), have a winning season, to win a conference championshop, and go to a decent bowl game. "Who's the national champion?" was an interesting side-argument that was secondary to the main show: the regular season. The bickering and polticking was saved for the months of down time.

That said, what we have for the forseeable future is a playoff (it's really a tournament), but here's what I would suggest:
Quarter-Final games hosted by the top four power conference champs before Christmas (3rd weekend in December).

The other teams include the other power confence champion(s); the top-rated mid-major champion; and the remaining sports for the top-rated at-large teams, including non conference champions. No more than two teams from the same conference. This would mean rougly 9-12 teams total, depending on whether there are byes for certain champions or not. Most (or all) of them (except for the top four power conference champs) play in a First Round on the 2nd weekend of December. The fifth-rated P5 and G5 champions may host a 1st round game, or they may be given a bye- I could be persuaded either way,

Hosting 1st round games would give priority to conference or division champions (as they probably had to play in a conference championship the week before, otherwise those who did not would have an advantage of an extra week to rest and prepare).

Semi-Finals after New Year's Day, Finals in mid January,

This plan would put much more emphasis on the regular season and conference races than we have at present.

Agree 100%. It's a joke that MAC schools are in the same league as the power 5. Same with the WAC and Sun Belt conferences. What's the point - there's nothing those teams can do to make the playoffs. And look what has happened to recruiting due the the playoffs. Those teams that positioned themselves at the start of the 4 team playoff system are benefitting greatly from the recruit system - a large percentage of available 5 star recruits are going to 5 schools. Restructuring the conferences and expanding the playoffs to more teams would definitely balance things out. I'm betting that those teams at the top have no interest in changing anything though. Why would they? I wouldn't.