No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama were set to meet Saturday night, in a game between programs that can lose and still contend for a national title while mid-tier teams must prove they belong. The College GameDay crew and the President were expected at the game, and ESPN broadcasts were expected to draw large ratings. The spotlight follows the powerful. Others bear the cost of losing it.
Former Alabama coach Nick Saban revealed a glimpse of that machinery the previous week on the set of "College GameDay": "If I was coaching right now, I'd be trying to get (Mississippi State quarterback) Kamario Taylor to get into the portal." Mississippi State had opened with a dominant Big Ten road win at Minnesota and thrilling SEC wins over South Carolina and Missouri. Taylor topped early Heisman Trophy lists. The Bulldogs had been picked 15th in the SEC preseason media poll, and their athletic director had faced questions all offseason about whether he would fire the coach.
The transfer portal, from the top
Saban's suggestion carried an extra edge. The column said he was airing political advertisements to seek legislation that would limit players' ability to move. Alabama had beaten Mississippi State 16 straight years, and the teams played every year from 1948 to 2023, compiling an Alabama record of 65-10-1 across that stretch. They're in the same conference and might be considered rivals. In this version of college football, a powerful program can pursue a player even as political efforts seek to restrict players' movement.
Georgia and Alabama, along with Ohio State, Notre Dame and LSU, belong to a group whose teams and fans can rebound from a loss and remain title contenders. Georgia won national championships in 2021 and 2022; Alabama won them in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. Their fans may "gnash their teeth and rend their garments" after a defeat, but the programs still have room to recover. The column named Kirby Smart and Georgia, and Ryan Day and Ohio State, while describing the different circumstances surrounding college football's most powerful programs.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Rich Boy" supplied the column's bluntest comparison: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me ... They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different."
The cost of losing a place
Washington State and Oregon State kept playing after the Pac-12 disbanded and reconstituted itself that year in what the column called a "lessened and deformed version." The schools had gone from playing at USC and the Rose Bowl to trips to San Marcos, Texas, for a USA Network broadcast. Their fans still loved their teams, but they could no longer dream of playing in the Rose Bowl or winning a national title. The column blamed television ratings, not poor teams, for the lack of conference places for the Cougars and Beavers.
Illinois offers another measure of the pressure. After coach Bret Bielema led the Illini to their most wins over a two-year period, Illinois collapsed in 2026, in part because he hired longtime Montana coach Bobby Hauck as defensive coordinator and used his 3-3-5 scheme. Hauck left before Illinois lost at home to Purdue. The column described the defeat as the worst loss of the Bielema era, and the reaction in Champaign as "atomic." Mid-tier Power 4 teams can't afford to become bottom-feeders as power consolidates in the SEC and Big Ten and the sport potentially sorts the "haves and have-nots" more sharply.
Indiana is the column's counterexample, not a settled escape route. Previously grouped with Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Purdue—or lower—the Hoosiers had gone 32-2 in their previous 34 games and won major honors. The writer said the rise was unprecedented, could stem from an inner-circle Hall of Fame coach, and remained unfinished. Cignetti was 65 and signed through 2033. A 24-team playoff could give middle-tier programs more chances, but the column warned that qualifying could lose its appeal after a first appearance and poor television ratings could reinforce second-tier status, as happened with the expansion of the NCAA basketball tournament.
The column describes the Georgia-Alabama game as "gods doing battle in the skies" while other fans watch. Leading programs have more resources, can recruit players from other rosters and accumulate power; middle-tier teams face pressure to justify their place. The final line names the arrangement without dressing it up: "They still think that they are better than we are. The world is constructed to make sure they remain right."