re: Could the NCAA save College Football?

It's going to take a lot more than that.

Bama, Ohio State, and Oklahoma have dominated their conferences for as long as today's recruits can remember. And Clemson is getting to that level fast.

Ohio State lost Urban Meyer, replaced him Ryan Day, and didn't lose a step. Oklahoma lost Bob Stoops, replaced him with Lincoln Riley amd didn't lose a step. What makes anyone think Alabama will lose anything when Saban retires?

There's a ton more money and exposure involved in CFB today than ever before, and the programs that were in a position to capitalize on that advantage through the 2000s and 2010s have such a massive built in advantage over everyone else at this point, I'm not sure it can be consistently overcome by anyone.

Think about the mind of a 17 year old football player, born in about 2003. Memories of football maybe back until 2010-ish when they were about 7 years old. Bama, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Clemson have been on top for as long as they can remember. Programs like Oregon, Auburn, LSU, and FSU have had random one-off seasons of success, but other than that, it's really just been Bama, OSU, Clemson, and OU that consistently win their conferences and compete for titles.

People talk about how we are in an anomalous period of program dynasty, and it will end eventually when Saban retires. But I don't think it will. At this point, I think CFB is a perpetual motion machine for a handful of elite programs, and a pipe dream for everyone else.

I honestly don't know how the sport will survive without some massive shift in the landscape occuring really soon.