Contrary to the loudest voices in the room, the 2025 college football season has proven that NIL and the transfer portal didn’t destroy the sport — they saved it. David Pollack explains why the current era has created more parity, more competitive balance, more meaningful football, and more national storylines than ever before. Pollack breaks down how NIL empowered players, why roster mobility prevents depth hoarding, and how the new rules have created legitimate opportunities for teams like Indiana, Vanderbilt, BYU, Texas Tech, and Miami to compete at the national level. We also dive into why fans are actually the biggest winners in this era: better games, closer matchups, fewer blowouts, and a wider distribution of star quarterbacks. Pollack and Trey also discuss the one real fix that would stabilize the ecosystem further — binding contracts for NIL and a structured, standardized compensation model that preserves player rights while reducing the chaos of unrestricted movement. If ...