Hamilton: Price of college football's many changes are more than fair

COLUMBIA The new world order hit Columbia on a balmy Saturday night.

That much was evident by the sight of Greg Sankey snacking on popcorn inside of Williams-Brice Stadium.

And, honest to goodness, the SECs commissioner seemed as invested in all the pregame hype and hoopla as any of the folks snaking their way through the aisles.

Or, of course, the ones off in the distance still languishing in pregame traffic even as kickoff approached; their headlights lining up the roads surrounding the stadium to add a nice contrast to the in-stadium LED lighting.

Their determination paid off; the gridlock, as usual, evaporating with minutes to spare and the seating bowls empty spaces vanished.

Cockys entrance, 2001, and all the other traditional pregame components went off unabated with crowd noise providing strong backup vocals.

Thats all part and parcel for a typical fall weekend, though.

Football is played on a finite number of Saturdays.

So theres always an urgency and an elevated energy; even for a game featuring a team or two headed for nowhere other than an offseason of discontent.

That movie has played here more frequently than many would care to admit, yet the buy-in is always the same.

Blastoff! Rocket Sanders torches No.

10 Texas A&M as Gamecocks roll to upset But things are different now.

You could feel it on this warm, early November night.

What happened is a microcosm of systemic changes throughout the sport.

Changes for the good.

South Carolinas game with No.

10 Texas A&M was a game of teams still with much to gain or prove, though on different levels.

The Gamecocks might be better than their record, yet inconsistent enough to argue perhaps theyre not even that good.

A final assessment wont be available until a postseason postmortem and if a bowl trip defies preseason expectations.

Texas A&M, meanwhile, is an out-of-nowhere SEC contender.

Its an incredible achievement considering over the past 12 months, the Aggies have: Yet, the Aggies are defying preseason predictions that had them finishing ninth in the 16-team SEC; an especially humbling (humiliating) forecast considering the arrival of in-state nemesis Texas into the conference.

Texas A&M enters the final month positioned for its first-ever appearance in the league championship game.

And, along with that, a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Hamilton: NCAA's 'nothingburger' signals bigger deal So, yes, it apparently was Jimbo all along keeping Texas A&M down.

But the larger point is that this type of gameand these types of seasonsare the new normal across the SEC and college football in general.

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Attorney doesn't know why.

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After 20 years, has it paid off? Consider that there have already been four top-five matchups this season, the most in 13 years.

That includes No.

3 Ohio States 20-13 win at No.

4 Penn State , a game that drove home so many narratives, old and new, for both teams.

And more such games are likely to come; the ebb and flow since Labor Day has seen multiple changes atop the rankings.

Theres even a universe where Georgia could finish the regular season with a higher ranking than the SEC champions.

That would mean the Bulldogs, by virtue of the new CFP system, couldnt do better than a first-round home game and not receive a bye.

Crazy? Yes.

But it can indeed happen.

That wild scenario is one of many that conference leaders are starting to look at down their list of tiebreakers.

Its partly a return on investment from the sweeping rounds of conference realignment weve seen over the past three years.

The idea of swapping tradition and geographical sensibility has given so many heartburn.

But the finished product has more teams running a gauntlet that otherwise wouldnt exist anywhere other than a football nuts fantasies.

And heres a harsh truth: the transfer portal has improved the game at least as much as its harmed it.

Evidence up to this point tilts the scales in a positive direction.

Any team is now capable of a quick fix, a rapid turnaround from one season to the next.

Whats happening at Indiana and Miami and, yes, Texas A&M doesnt take place without players having agency over where they play.

How much of that is tethered to NIL and the prospects of pay-for-play is difficult to assess, and must be done so on a case-by-case basis.

The findings will require way more antacid than whats needed to relieve the heartburn over realignment.

Boyd, Watkins honored as Clemson hall of famers But it will eventually abate because this is the way going forward.

Its a fair trade considering what weve seen and what weve felt so far this season.

And those regular-season crucibles are part of a self-sustaining cycle that will only swell.

Weekly matchups between heavyweights or teams with still so much to gain fosters excitement, which cultivates television interest, which produces more money for the sport.

More money means more investment, presumably leading to better products which fuel the cycle to repeat faster.

Its an exciting and more-than-fair trade for whats been surrendered.

So who can blame even the likes of Greg Sankey for taking a moment to snack on popcorn and watch it all unfold?.

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