CFB is a regional pastime. I suspect COVID season has as much to do with the game not being as interesting to people as last years game was but CFB did everything it could to get a BIG 10 team in the playoff along with ND in an attempt to attract audiences in the midwest (big 10) and a national audience with ND. Anyone who watched CFB this year and is honest knew that 3 teams in the SEC not named Bama and Oklahoma was as good as Clemson and would have beaten Ohio State 7 of 10 times if plated on a neutral field.

Last seasons CFCG was the most watched ever because a team not named Clemson, Alabama or Ohio State was in it. Between entire swaths of the US not having any interest whatsoever in CFB and the same teams being at the top with an outsider breaking in like LSU last year only rarely CFB has become a regional game and is quickly losing the luster it had just a short time ago.

Of the 3 teams at the top mentioned above Ohio State has no business in the top....they play no one all season, as does Oklahoma, and gets wacked in the playoffs, normally the first round. Clemson is there because of their proximity to the wealth of recruiting in Georgia and Florida and close enough to the SEC to make inroads into Louisiana, also a recruiting hotbed. They also play no one all season and have been able to win a couple of natty's by being good and not having been beaten up by a brutal schedule.

The only widespread interest in the US for CFB is in the SE and no one can compete with Alabama, making even the fanaticism in the SE less than it would be otherwise. I dont think there is anything that can be done....