Sixteen is the right number if people want to be honest and give every team a shot. All 10 conference champs and six at large bids.
Stop arguing that is too much. The NFL has a larger pool. The lower divisions have four round tourneys.
Most other sports have tourneys with approximately 15-20% of teams in the tourney, there is no legitimate reason why D1 football cannot do the same.
The truth is simple, the P5 wants to keep the G5 down for prestige purposes, and money. ESPN likely does, too, though probably only for $$$$ reasons.
Conferences and teams want to keep bowl money away from the NCAA. For the record, I agree with this completely.
Use the bowls for the playoffs and keep other bowls for mid-week filler. Keep the NCAA out of the playoffs. Nobody can complain, they will anyway, but they have no listeners.