Klatt has thought about this a fair amount. I think this video is worth the listen.
JK wants to go to a 14 team cfp. (I think that is coming)
He wants to give the b10 and the sec champs 1st round byes. So just two bye teams.
He wants to give the b10 and the sec 4 auto berths. Two each for acc and b12. That's 12. Then two open spots for g5 and/or indies like ND.
I think the 4 auto berths for b10 and sec is a non starter.
Another thing he wants are non-neutral sites for R2. I disagree. I think that gives the home team too much of an advantage.
3rd big thing: have the nc game always be the rose bowl and always have it on Jan 1.
If that is the case, I think the season needs to be scaled back to 10 RS games. There just isn't enough time otherwise.
The math, Joel's way: 12 rs games, then 13th qualifying game, then 4 playoff games if you're not top 2 (3 if you are). That's 16 to 17 weeks. Right now, teams are getting 1.5 weeks between games. That has helped teams take finals and stuff, like recover from injuries.
If you add in two bye weeks, that's a 19 week season. That's roughly 5 months. I don't want to see games in early August. School won't be in session. The heat will be brutal. Camp will be held in July. Ugh.
So I'd cut 2 games from the schedule. Make every team play an 8 game conference schedule. Each p4 team plays one p4 non-con game and one g5 game.
Cutting games from the rs schedule will reduce revenue for 120 schools. But if ending by Jan 1 is that important, then something has got to give.
I don't think Joel has thought out the timeline well enough.