I am a die-hard college football fan. I'm a die-hard Buckeye fan, that's why I'm here and have been on the leaderboard for a decade. 

But I also just love college football, period. 

It's slipping away. We have watched the train wreck for a while, but I have hung in there. NIL and the Texas A&M buying spree in 2021. The Covid 6 year players. The unlimited transfer portal. NIL regulations failing again and again. The NCAA fully neutered. 

Things have accumulated, and - for me - it's different now. The way I know is pretty simple: I just don't come to this site as much in the offseason. I don't listen to the podcasts. I don't read the articles. It's not that I don't care - I really do care. It's that I don't think it's as fun to track the offseason any more.

Recruiting? Under the current setup, a lot of guys throw relationships out the window for a last minute contract deal from a desperate team, and there is about a 50-50 shot a guy is going to stay on the team and not transfer before he's a contributor. Player development in the spring? Younger guys may or may not ever play meaningful minutes. 

We've been heading here for a while but this was the first class of recruiting that made me say: I'm just going to sit this one out. This was the first spring game where I said: I don't really care that much which freshmen or subs are showing out. I will just wait for the games. 

The games - they are still good! Right? They are - and it keeps me coming. But but but...

In the 12 team playoff, Coach Day piloted the slow-down, the fewer plays approach to the regular season. Keep the guys fresh. 

And now - a potential 24 team playoff? Are you serious? You think our guys are going to play on the road against a mediocre team with a 24 team playoff? You think anyone is playing through a minor injury? You think there will be any season in which OSU is not a part of the 24 team playoff? So then it's: I start paying attention the last couple weeks of the season, like it's the NBA.

I'm not sure how to get it through the skulls of the university presidents and commissioners and ESPN, but fans like me are the canary in the coal mine. If I stop paying attention in the offseason and maybe in the regular season, the casual fan is going to stop paying attention at all.