What Are We Even Playing For Anymore? The Portal vs The Playoff

I sat there last night watching Oregon get throttled in a College Football Playoff semifinal, and the whole thing felt fake.

Not because Indiana isn’t good... They are insanely good!
Not because Oregon didn’t earn its way there.

But because half the roster wasn’t even there anymore.

Fourteen Oregon players hit the transfer portal in a two-week stretch that opened while they were still playing for a national championship. Fourteen. Three running backs. A backup quarterback. Receivers. Defensive backs. Gone — not after the season, not after the playoff run — during it.

That’s a system failure.

At one point, Oregon was so thin at running back that they moved a safety and a linebacker into the position. The guy who started the game? Actively in the portal. Literally auditioning for his next job while playing in a playoff game.

Tell me that doesn’t feel broken.

This Isn’t “Player Empowerment” — It’s Player Abandonment

We’ve all defended the portal at some point. Coaches lie. Schools cut guys. Injuries ruin careers. Players deserve options.

All true – for the most part.

But there’s a line — and we sprinted past it.

If your team is still alive in the playoff, your season is not over. Period. And yet the new single-window rule (January 2–16) basically tells players: “Go ahead and bail — even if your team’s chasing a title.”

So they do.

Not because they hate their teammates.
Not because they quit mid-game.

But because the system rewards leaving early more than staying.

That’s the problem.

The National Championship Doesn’t Matter Anymore — The Deadline Does

This is what annoys me.

We’re not talking about opt-outs for bowl games that don’t matter – this isn't the Pop-Tart Bowl. We’re talking about kids walking away from a chance to win the whole thing because they’re afraid of missing a portal window or losing leverage in NIL talks.

Oregon didn’t lose because they were soft.
They lost because they were gutted... and because Indiana is a wagon!

Miami dealt with it too. Teams actively competing for a championship are being stripped for parts in real time.

And nobody’s accountable.

No Loyalty. No Pride. No Guardrails.

I’m not asking players to stay forever. I’m not asking them to take less money. I’m asking for basic competitive integrity.

If you’re healthy and your team is still playing, you should be there. Full stop.

This isn’t about tradition for tradition’s sake. This is about the product. The playoff is supposed to crown the best team — not the team that loses the fewest guys to a paperwork deadline.

Right now, we’re watching semifinal games decided by portal timing instead of football.

That’s embarrassing.

Fix It — Or Admit the Playoff Is Just a TV Show

Move the portal window.
Create a playoff exemption.
Delay NIL negotiations until seasons end.

Do something.

Because what we saw last night wasn’t competition. It was a roster emergency disguised as a semifinal.

When a kid would rather chase a paycheck than finish a season with his brothers — not in October, not in November, but in the playoff — that tells you everything you need to know about how broken this thing has become.

The portal isn’t just changing college football anymore.

It’s cheapening it.

And if this is the future of the playoff, we better stop pretending it still means what it used to.