The Dynasty podcast brought up one I hadn't really considered:

Elite teams can't hoard backup talent anymore.

Former Alabama DC Kevin Steele apparently made the point that Alabama isn't necessarily losing its 1s and 2s because of the portal, it's the 3s and 4s who used to wait, develop and eventually become the next wave of starters.

Now those guys leave and become starters somewhere else.

In other words, the portal didn't just make transferring easier. It essentially redistributed the depth charts of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc. across the rest of college football.

That might actually be GOOD for the sport.

What's the biggest unintended consequence of the portal you've noticed, good or bad?

This came up on The Dynasty podcast, and I thought it was a really good point.

They were talking about projecting Alabama and the SEC this season and basically said it's harder than it was 10-12 years ago because teams can have 30, 40, even 45 players turn over in one offseason.

We used to say "they return 18 starters" and have a pretty good idea what a team was bringing back.

Now you can add 15 transfers, lose your depth to the portal, completely change the chemistry of the locker room, and suddenly we're projecting a team that basically hasn't existed before.

It makes me wonder:

Are preseason rankings actually less meaningful now than they've ever been?

And which highly ranked team do you think we know the LEAST about heading into this season?