"The intense nationalization of college football means that teams with no business (or chance) competing against Alabama and Clemson and Ohio State attempt to do it anyway. But again: The job for athletic directors is not to actually compete with Alabama and Clemson and Ohio State, it is to look like they’re trying. And they do what they need to do to keep up appearances—even at the expense of the student-athletes they serve. "

"Not everybody can win, but everybody can be obsessed, and everybody can market obsession. That is the prominent business model in college sports: Prove to your customers that you are as irrationally committed as they are. Schools are far more likely to be criticized for not paying obscene salaries to football coaches than for doing so. Which is why coaches’ salaries keep going up. These investments are so speculative, and so detached from the underlying economics, that it feels foolish to call them investments at all."

You can think of college football like major league baseball.
Power 5 = Triple A (VT, UVa)
Group of 5 = Double A (Liberty, ODU)
IAA = High A (JMU, UofR, W&M)
Division II & III = Low A (Hampton, Norfolk State)
The NFL uses each as their farm teams!
[Post edited by HokieNet at 12/29/2020 4:04PM]