Change in college football is coming fast and furious

By Ed Daniels, Sports

I am hearing it, yet again.

You know, the idea that college football, with the current model that includes the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), is in big trouble.

“It isn’t the same anymore,” said an impassioned fan to a reporter.

That’s right, it isn’t. It is called change.

And, college football will change some more. There will be even more conference realignment, and as early as the 2026 season, an expanded college football playoff.

The conferences that survive will add more teams and revenue.

And, the game will continue to be what is, and always will be, especially in the South: That is, a passion.

At a recent interview session at the Manning Passing Academy, change in college football was all around the room.

Myles Brennan, who will compete for the starting job at LSU this month, and entered the transfer portal, only to withdraw his name, was sitting across the room from former LSU quarterback Max Johnson, who transferred to Texas A&M.

A few chairs down from Johnson was South Carolina transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler, who was the preseason front runner for the 2021 Heisman Award at the University of Oklahoma.

Rattler eventually lost his job to Caleb Williams, a true freshman, who then transferred to USC when Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley accepted that job and a contract that pays him $10 million a season.

In the same room were several individuals who seemed like real outliers.

Nicholls quarterback Kohen Granier, who led the Destrehan Wildcats to the 2015 class 5A finals, is the clubhouse leader to be the starter in 2022.

At the front of the room was Eli Manning, who spent five years at Ole Miss, redshirting his true freshman season in 1999.

Close by was his brother Peyton, who returned to the University of Tennessee for his senior season.

All three seemed like talented relics from another era.

In 2011, Nick Saban was the highest-paid coach in college football at just under $6 million a season. Saban was the only one of the top 10 highest-paid coaches in college football that season who still coaches the same team.

In 1991, the Los Angeles Times headline blared that Arkansas was leaving the Southwest Conference for the SEC. Speculation, at the time, was rampant that other schools, including Texas A&M would leave, too.

Twenty years later, the Aggies announced that they indeed were leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.

Fans of both sides mourned the loss of a great rivalry with Texas. The Aggies are so possessed with the Longhorns that their fight song lyrics include, “Goodbye to Texas University, so long to the Orange and White.”

Not anymore. No later than 2025, the Aggies and Horns will be in the same league again.

Last November LSU did the unthinkable. It hired the football coach from the University of Notre Dame.

“I want to be in the American League East,” said Brian Kelly.

Golden Domers everywhere cringed. But, that is change.

This summer, USC and UCLA announced they were leaving for the Big 10. It was yet another college football apocalyptic event.

Last Saturday, at the annual Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame awards, a reporter asked Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley how tickets were selling for the Florida State/LSU game in the Superdome on Sept. 4. Each school got an allotment of 30,000 tickets, said Hundley.

“Florida State sold theirs,” said Hundley. “And, LSU is close.”

Rumors of an impending college football demise seem to be greatly exaggerated.

Ed Daniels is sports director at ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at ed@nextstar.tv.