I also think that the shift to NIL has taken an unlevel playing field and tilted it even further, making a number of programs (like my own) pastries in the grand scheme of things.
CFB has always been unlevel due to recruiting, compared to pro sports where there are drafts, salary caps, collective bargaining agreements, etc. In CFB the helmets already have a recruiting advantage, but then the $$$ they get by virtue of being helmets allows them to extend via winning the arms race too. The 85-scholarship limit helped somewhat, but it was still tilted.
Now we have NIL. Which was supposed to allow players to profit off their NIL (i.e. endorsements), but retain the "amateurism" ideal where schools can't pay players to play for them. But instead what it's become is a way for boosters to pay players to play for a school, just without requiring secrecy and bagmen and violating NCAA rules.
And who has the most and wealthiest boosters? Helmets, of course!
Then you add huge conferences, CCGs, and the CFP. Now the lesser schools have almost no chance at backdooring their way into, for example, the Rose Bowl. And not only that, it diminishes the value of something like the Rose Bowl. Even if you backdoor your way into a conference championship (for example let's say that Michigan suffered a couple key injuries in the CCG and Purdue played out of their minds and squeaked to victory), the goal is an NCG and winning a CFP quarterfinal is hot garbage... And a team like Purdue will NEVER get beyond that sort of level. Not only that, if they scrap divisions champions getting into the CCG and make it top two teams, a team like Purdue will NEVER even backdoor their way into the CCG by winning a weak division.
So... What's the point? What are half of the teams in the P5 P4 even playing for? Almost impossible to win your conference, and if you do it only gets you to the next stage of the meat grinder where you'll get pulverized into dust.
Might as well join the f%&^@g Peace Corps...
