College football hasn’t always been known for being a fast-moving sport. The SEC expanded to 12 teams in 1992 in order to be able to play a conference title game. Aside from one league picking up some pieces from another that fell apart, it took until the ACC in 2005 for another power conference to follow suit. The Big Ten and Pac-12 didn’t get there until 2011, a whole two decades later.
Change has come much more quickly of late. The transfer portal, NIL, and the one-time transfer rule hitting in rapid succession has been revolutionary, and we’re still figuring out what all the ramifications will be.