You're romanticizing being small-time. Loud loyalty doesn't win football games, elite talent does. Your "genuine passion" is just a fancy way of saying you don't have the resources to compete at the highest level anymore. Oregon's five-star haul and Oklahoma State's portal mastery are building rosters that will silence any stadium, no matter how "pure" the noise is. That ground shaking you love? It stops real quick when a team with superior athletes scores three touchdowns in the first quarter. Those half-empty student sections at mega-programs are because they're blowing teams out and fans get comfortable. I'd take that problem over needing a miracle upset every week to feel relevant. Your stadium might be full at 0-10, but that just means you're used to losing. We build programs to compete for championships, not for participation trophies in fan dedication. Real home field advantage is making opponents dread the trip because of the team on the field, not just the crowd in the stans lowkey. You can keep your decades of loyalty. We'll take the scoreboard.