You watch these Big Ten coaches lobbying for a 24-team playoff at spring meetings and I just shake my head. That is not toughness. That is participation trophy culture creeping into everything. I remember the 1993 season when we had to earn every single thing we got, when Barry Alvarez walked into that locker room and told us we were gonna outwork everybody or we were going home. Nobody was talking about expanding the playoff back then. They were talking about who wanted it more in the fourth quarter.
This 24-team nonsense tells me the sport has forgotten what made the Big Ten great in the first place. It was about lining up and knowiing the other guy across from you had been through the same grind, the same two-a-days in August heat, the same film sessions until your eyes crossed. Now they want to let half the country into a tournament so nobody has to feel left out. Coach Alvarez would have laughed you out of the building if you suggested that.
The portal killed roster continuity and now this playoff expansion is gonna kill the regular season. Every game used to matter. Now you can lose three games and still get a participation ribbon. That is not football. That is a carnival game.