All these issues have had a significant impact on where the sport currently is and where it's going.Some in good ways, some in bad.One of the most unequivocally bad outcomes? Teams decreasing the quality of their schedules because it's easier to win more games and make the College Football Playoff.
Look no further than the collapse of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry game for the foreseeable future.FLORIDA STATE-GEORGIA SERIES CANCELLATION IS OMINOUS SIGN FOR FUTURE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALLSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans looks on during the first quarter of the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Alamodome on December 30, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.(Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images).
Head coach Marcus Freeman during a Notre Dame football practice at Irish Athletic Center on Saturday, April 18, 2026, in South Bend.(MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) (Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images, MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK)Both sides "accidentally" benefit from the game's cancellation.
One less top-15 opponent, one more likely win to sell to the College Football Playoff selection committee.And therein lies the problem; because making the playoff is viewed as the most important goal by coaches, fans, and athletic directors, the incentives are tilted in that direction.
Which is how we've gotten where we are: many Power 4 teams setting up easy non-conference schedules.Well, the best head coach in the sport's history, Nick Saban, has a solution.Just man up and play big opponents all season."I actually think we should play 12 games against the Power 5," Saban said on Wednesday, per On3's Brett McMurphy.
"That's it.Because it's a business and people want to see those games."NICK SABAN URGES SENATE TO PASS LEGISLATION TO FIX COLLEGE SPORTS, BUT COACHING CONTRACTS GLOSSED OVERNick Saban, former head football coach at the University of Alabama, testifies before the Senate Committee o...