The regular season wouldn't be ruined, you are exaggerating that greatly. I freely admit it would be diminished to a level, but I am willing to accept diminishing the REGULAR season and believe the benefits of having a real champion, determined on the field, far outweigh the negatives of giving USC a mulligan. A slightly diminished regular season to me is a small price to pay for giving teams like Utah, Boise, Hawaii and the other 60 teams who essentially play for scraps a realistic chance to prove themselves. By saying that it won't be diminished much I mean that these games are still vitally important, they won't all be life and death, but they will be the difference between a 1 or 2 seed and a 10 seed. HUGE meaning between playing Buffalo or Texas Tech in the first round. As I listed above, those late season games were win and in games for almost every team. It will be diminished, but not ruined.
There is no 3 loss teams in a 16 team playoff this season. You want a game meaning something, BYU/Utah was do or die for both, it meant far less without a playoff than it would with it. Would you rather be debating whether TCU is more deserving than Oklahoma State or the UT/OU fiasco, or USC being ass out, or any other of the ones listed above. What this system does is make the regular season a farce, it promotes scheduling crap (see TT), it says to half the teams "thanks for playing, but we aren't going to take you seriously no matter what you do. Then, when you go undefeated we will diminish that by saying you didn't play anyone. Then, when you call a big school to play a "real" game, they won't play you b/c they can't risk losing to a non-BCS school", it makes teams like Oklahoma (and that is my team) look for the perfect teams to schedule non-con, ones that will boost their SOS while at the same time having no real chance to beat them. Does every game mean something? No, it doesn't, every game played by OU, UT, UF, USC, etc., means everything. Games played by Utah, Boise St mean nothing. With a playoff, Utah's games mean something, Boise's do, perhaps every game by OU, UT, UF, USC won't, but every game by Oregon St, Texas Tech, Missouri, Oklahoma St, they will all mean something. right now, those teams have to be perfect to get a look from anyone. Even they're not on a balance with other teams in their conference. Look how quickly TT was dismissed by everyone in the OU/UT debate. The opportunities aren't level for every team, this would level them.
The only reason your girlfriend is passionate is b/c she likes UF, if this were UW, FSU and Miami she wouldn't give a shit. her fanatical interest lies in the team itself, not the controversy. March Madness is perfect for casual fans, they don't go nuts over it, but they are interested, they fill out their brackets, they follow the brackets even if they don't know shit.
The inherent problem I have in accepting that the regular season is the playoffs is that it is so inherently unbalanced and elitist in providing opportunities for teams to compete. The regular season is an old boys network. If your name is Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Alabama, LSU or Ohio St, you are granted entry. If your name is Washington, Oregon, Utah, Boise St (and I'm not contending the latter two are as good as the formerly named teams), Auburn, USC, you are playing by different rules. OU, UT, UF, Bama, LSU, OSU can lose a game and still play for NCs. Utah, Boise, hell, even Auburn can go undefeated and still have no chance. USC can't lose a game (twice in 6 years now) and be in the same discussion as the Big 12 and SEC teams. UW beat UM, UM beat FSU yet FSU plays OU in 2000. How is the regular season a playoff when you don't respect those results? How is it a playoff when teams go undefeated and their ceiling is 6th or 8th?
I love college football, more than CBK and more than the pro sports and I am tense as all hell watching OU games. I loved the SEC title game with everything on the line, Oregon St upsetting USC, TT upsetting UT, Iowa/PSU, etc., but in the end I can't get over the inherent biases and fact that when you get right down to it, only 15-18 teams annually have a chance at an NC and even amongst those teams, certain teams have significantly more difficult criteria to get there.