I guess I'd rather see competitive games being played all season long rather than a 12 game schedule in which half the games are against cupcakes and bottom feeders. Don't see how "sink or swim" applies when half a schedule can be made up of cupcakes.
You don't get it, do you? Programs like Northwestern, Iowa, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon State, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Mississippi, etc., they have a place in the grand scheme. Their place is to be cannon fodder for Bama, OSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, PSU, USC, etc. The end game is for the "elite" teams to all have 10+ wins and then play each other at the end. They would destroy the business model if the blue bloods all had to play and all finished grouped around 6-6. That's why conferences exist. OSU and Michigan need guaranteed cannon fodder every year and in exchange for providing cannon fodder, Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota, etc. all are paid handsomely.
It's why top programs have no problem with doing whatever is necessary to have a good football program. They know that they won't get punished harshly or the death penalty because if Ohio State and Michigan are paying guys, in the grand scheme Iowa and Wisconsin can't bitch too much because the whole value of the B1G media deals is driven by the inordinately large fan bases, cable subscribers and TV viewers those big dogs bring to the table. That's also why the powers that be realized that they better not destroy PSU a few years into their punishment.
Look, the NCAA could level out the playing field fairly easily with something like a 60 scholarship limit and annual cap of 15 scholarships with a 5 year cap of 70 or something, but they never will because the NCAA doesn't care about parity. They lowered the scholarship limits when it reached joke-like levels of competition in the '70's, but they ain't gonna do it again because the system churns too damned much money and the thought of a Cal/K-State/NC State/Arkansas playoff scares the piss out of the NCAA.
