Against my better judgement, but knowing it's better than cheese puns or some other painful swerve into a topic like, oh, lets say debating the implications of using NTTIAWRT on a message board, how would some of you folks define what makes a "top 5 program" in the year of our Lord, 2024? Because "it's always been one as far as I've been watching" doesn't really do it for me. The top things on my list would be, in no particularly order, fertile recruiting region, how big a city and how many busineses, financial wherewithal and number of living alumni, confererence, facilities, and existing brand and history, academic restrictions.
I sure as fuck wouldn't have put Michigan in that list over Ohio State until maybe this year when Michigan showed themselves to not be interested in ethics or of the high morality they claim. And I still wouldn't becuase I think Ohio State has a more rabid alumni base geared towards football, and Columbus offers more NIL opportunities than Ann Arbor.
Bama has an alumni and net money net worth problem. Are they top 5? Maybe. But I hardly think it's a slam dunk, it's a fucking argument.