You don't have to be a weatherman to tell which way the winds of college tackle football are blowing, and I don't like it for my alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh. I have opined on this previously: I wish Pitt had "deemphasized," the term in the 1960's, back in that simple time rather than go "big time." Look where we are now, where $33M/year is not enough to compete for national championships. In this one alum's opinion the "nuclear option" suggested here by David Hale of ESPN is the option of choice.

Hale: The ultimate tipping point may come if and when the courts determine a serious shake-up of the college sports model is necessary. If athletes are deemed as employees, and schools that can spend the most on the best players have a built-in advantage, there essentially becomes no path forward for anyone playing outside the SEC and Big Ten. Regardless of the legal consequences, teams like Florida State, Clemson, Oregon or Washington, which aim to win national championships, would be in a move-or-die situation. Meanwhile, other schools less comfortable with the idea of college football as a semi-pro league might voluntarily opt to leave the mega conferences for something more akin to an Ivy League model. ...As bad as the revenue disparities are shaping up to be right now, there's only so many new football operations buildings and nutrition centers a school can build for recruiting purposes. But if schools are forced (or allowed) to pay athletes directly, then the correlation between money and wins will get far stronger, and the race to super conferences will be on.