EA Sports College Football released their trailer Thursday morning and it's stunning.
The game designers do a tremendous job of capturing the color, history and tradition of the sport, at the same time the decision makers in the college football business are working to destroy it.
Big ongoing debates about the portal, NIL, revenue sharing, playoff expansion and automatic berths are obscuring what's really important in college football: Saturdays in the fall.
Fans are sick of the Big Ten and SEC power grab. They're tired of the greed and obsession that's threatened to destroy tradition and the regional flavor of the game.
Game day is what matters. And it matters in Blacksburg and Pullman and Madison. If every decision concentrates all the power in a few programs and makes the regular season mean nothing, the power brokers slowly begin to destroy everything fans care about.
The video game is fine; it's not my thing but I respect how much people enjoy it. What I find maddening is that the powers that be, Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti and all the rest, are so intent at grasping every advantage and every last nickel out of the game that they're willing to give nothing back.
If the regular season doesn't matter and the playoffs are rigged to guarantee Big Ten and SEC supremacy they risk destroying what everyone really cares about: Saturdays in the fall.
Fans want viable programs and competitive teams. They don't want an unregulated arms race where it's impossible to know who's on the roster and unrestricted, unregulated free agency that destabilizes whole athletic programs.
Football should be about effort and competition, passion and pageantry, the bands and fight songs and big plays. Nobody cares about committees and rankings. The focus is so distorted, they just might succeed in wrecking the whole thing.