Ohio State's $20 million championship roster will only lead to more spending

The season began with a cautionary tale from Nick Saban about Ohio State's $20 million roster.

"I just want to say, you guys keep talking about a $20 million roster," Saban said on ESPN's College GameDay. "If you don't pay the right guys, you’ll be shit out of luck."

The Buckeyes, despite an upset loss to Michigan, ended up being shit in luck. The $20 million investment made them the 2024 national champions.

And that will have one obvious consequence. More programs will think the best way to win a title is to buy one.

Which will lead to more money for players, which is good for the players. I also will create more chaos for the teams, which is not good for the sport.

And with the NCAA recently ditching the transfer portal, it seems as if college football is embracing the chaos. And that could be the checkmate move in the ongoing game of NIL checkers.

If there's enough chaos in college football, Congress might eventually have no choice but to impose a solution.

The easiest answer would be a broad antitrust exemption that allows the NCAA to impose rules that could be honored by the various member schools without violating the law. The better answer would be for Congress to create the rules.

However it goes, that's the way it could be going. Extreme chaos leads to desperation, which leads to legislation. Which saves college football from the chaos resulting from decades of a corrupt system that allowed everyone associated with the sport to be paid — except the players.