I think history explains this

by Mark, Friday, July 24, 2026, 15:28 (5 days ago) @ Domer99

During Holtz’s tenure the roster was only 85 scholarships. I think its 105 nowadays. Pre-Holtz it was 105 and big programs could hoard talent. That lead to dominance by Penn St, Michigan, Texas, Bama etc. Back then, they reduced the scholarships to 85 to help increase diversity and spread talent to smaller programs. But with money in the game now at such a massive scale (ie not just in the SEC or at tOSU (which, lets be honest, always paid players like the SEC did)), that’s forcing the diversity bc so many more schools are paying players now.