Within another thread
@Mdot21 posted a link to a College Football Nerds tOSU preview.
What I want to address here is a discussion they had that relates to all the helmets, not just Ohio State.
Their assertion was that in the current era with NIL and the portal the major "helmet" teams should really never have a position or position group that is flat awful.
In the old days (ya know, like four years ago) there was always the possibility that even a helmet would just whiff on recruiting for a given position. Maybe three years worth of Michigan's linebacker recruits just didn't pan out or three years worth of Ohio State's tailback recruits just sucked. In those old days the examples above would have meant that Michigan's linebackers or Ohio State's tailbacks would likely have been flat awful and a MAJOR position of weakness.
In today's environment their (CFB Nerds) argument was that if the above happened Harbaugh/Day would be able to hit the portal and pick up at least a serviceable LB/TB.
I think that Tyler Buchner to Bama at QB iss a decent example of this. I don't think any of us expect Buchner to be Bama's version of Burrow but I do think that he is a serviceable QB.
I titled this thread the way I did because I see this as problematic for the non-helmets because it makes it less likely that they'll be able to keep up. There is an ever decreasing chance that Purdue will get to play an Ohio State with crappy TB's or that Minnesota will get to play a Michigan with crappy linebackers. Thus, there are less ways for PU/MN to take out tOSU/M.
As a fan of a helmet I could just celebrate this and in the short-term, I do. Ohio State had a perceived weakness on Oline going into 2023 and plucked a transfer to help shore that up, Yay go Bucks!
Taking a longer/larger view, however, I see this as problematic for the health of the sport as a whole. Purdue was always at a disadvantage relative to tOSU/M but in the old days they had at least a chance. They won the league and went to the RoseBowl in the 2000 season. Sure that was 20+ years ago and the Buckeyes (11) and Wolverines (4) have each won multiple league titles since then, but for Purdue there was always a chance, slim as it may have been, that next year would be their year again.
@betarhoalphadelta has recounted his story of traveling to Pasadena for Purdue's appearance in the 2001 Rose Bowl and I think that the (slim) chance that Purdue might make it back eventually helped to keep him around.
As a fan of a rich team, these rich-get-richer changes are good for me in a way, but I am increasingly convinced that the people running college athletics have their hands wrapped firmly around the neck of the goose and they don't seem to understand that if they kill the goose the golden eggs will stop.