College football is a joke. It's a big, corrupt, hipocritical mess. Student athletes are unpaid, very few have any hope of a pro career and particularly in the case of big money sports like football, they provide value to the university that is well beyond the value of their scholarships. They dedicate a lot of time to their sports, yet must also study and prepare for their future beyond football. While it's true all of them enter into the arrangement voluntarily, a lot of them are too young and stupid to see a system that doesn't really care about them, their health or their future and dumps them back into the street after four years with no real education, bad knees and no prospects for the future.
Here's the secret about guys like Saban. HE'S AN EXPLOITER!!!
Big time college coaches are massive hipocrites who have huge financial incentives to blow way out of proportion what should be friendly and limited athletic competition among students at institutions of higher learning. Why should ethical coaches who understand the true place of football in the Universe follow their lead?