I like that they valued a conference championship.
Continuing to let SEC teams in with inflated w/l records just promotes their method of gaming the system.
Valuing conference championship allows teams to schedule tough ooc matchups without risking completely blowing their championship aspirations week 1 or 2 of the year.
I personally hate the eye test. And bringing in at large non conference champs promotes that. I didn't like Alabama being in for the same reason last year. I'm sure people will think them winning it all last year validated them getting in. I disagree. With more teams I'd let at larges in, but with only 4 my opinion is step one is earning it by being a conference champ. Step 2, have a better resume than other conference champs.
I recognize this is my opinion of how the playoff should work not how it is actually set up.

To your point below about ND. I think it is a good point. Their choice to not be in a conference gives them zero margin for error. One loss and they'd of been out. I don't think they'd even been part of the discussion.