What tradition? It has been about money for a very long time. "Tradition" was only used as an argument to try to convince fans to go along with what at the time was the system that made the money.
The ACC has argued for a long time that the conference should be able to decide how to determine which teams play for the conference championship. The current rules require two divisions, and the division champions to play each other. The rules were amended to allow a conf championship game if all teams play round robin. The ACC has argued for a pod system of 3 or 4 teams per pod. That would allow teams to play more ACC teams more often. GT would play Duke and UNC less often, but would end up playing all teams in the ACC at least once every two or three years. If the ACC had such a system this year, it would have been 11-1 Clemson against either 9-3 Syracuse or 9-3 NC State.
No-one complains when an 12-18 basketball team wins their conference championship and makes it to the NCAA tournament. If a 9-4 team would be seeded number 8 in an 8 team playoff. If a 9-4 team ends up beating Alabama, then Notre Dame, then Clemson, they kind of proved that they are in the same class as those teams.
Last year UCF didn't "deserve" to get in the playoffs according to the "experts". According to them last year, UCF would need to beat Auburn and then run the table again to "prove" they are worthy. Well, UCF did run the table again, and the "experts" just say, oh well life isn't fair. BTW those "experts" said last year that UCF was going to find out what real-man football is when the played Auburn. According to the "experts" UCF wasn't going to be able to hand anywhere close to Auburn, much less get anywhere close to winning the game.
My biggest issue with the polls' MNC, the BCS, and the playoffs is that there is no known method of determining the winner or the participants. The polls and the playoffs are purely subjective. The BCS relied heavily on the polls. The "experts" don't make picks during the season at 100%. If they get 80% of games correct, it is considered good. Why should that be a way of determining a champion? It hasn't happened, but it is entirely possible that an undefeated P5 conference champion could be left out of the playoffs. That is a far worse scenario than a 9-4 conference champion making it in to the playoffs.