I will take for granted, for sake of your argument, that there will be some years where BYU is not good enough to qualify for an at large spot, but would qualify for the automatic spot as the sixth-ranking conference champion. In such years we’d be slotted against the highest ranked team not qualifying for a bye—which will usually be the second-best SEC team—and slaughtered in round one. Woohoo.

I understand that not all fans value independence equally. That’s fine. But marginally improved access to the lowest seeds of the playoff moves the needle only so much.