Analyst explains how Ohio State-Oregon is the inspiration for ‘Project Rudy’

College football is looking to maximize profits with no regard for tradition in the NIL era – hence Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC’s moves to the Big Ten and Texas and Oklahoma’s jump to the SEC. The endgame is simple: strengthening the top two conferences enough for their TV rights contract to be as exorbitant as possible.

The thirst for profits is getting so severe that there have been pushes for super leagues, such as “ Project Rudy ”; a proposal for a 70-team super league backed by private equity from several former Disney executives.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Pettiti denied that the sport was moving in the direction of a super league, but it’s his conference that's inspiring ideas for one.

As NBC Sports’ Andrew Greif writes, the top-five matchup between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon in Week 7 is the exact kind of game TV execs want more of.

“The potential for more revenue could drive consolidation further,” Greif prefaced before saying, “Dueling proposals for ‘super league’ concepts that would break the most resource-rich schools away from the have-nots to an even greater degree have gone public this month. Their stated aim is to promote more matchups more often between otherwise separated blue-blood programs — games just like Oregon vs. Ohio State.”

Ohio State-Oregon is an example of why SEC, Big Ten may simply add more teams

The Big Ten and SEC will be leading college football into the future. Pettiti and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey made that clear when they met in Nashville on October 10 and shot down rumors of “Project Rudy” while simultaneously denying that things would stay as they are.

The likeliest course of action for the sport isn’t ditching the conference model for a super league. That’s too complicated and boxes out too many important power brokers currently running things.

No, it’s doubling down on the current “Power 2” model. Expect the Big Ten and SEC to make strategic additions in a few years, such as Notre Dame and North Carolina.

Don’t expect “Project Rudy” to ever happen, even if it would benefit schools like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Texas that bring the most revenue to the sport.