All of sports are meaningless exhibition. People like the immediate drama of not knowing who will win a game.
If all someone cares about is the season, why watch anything other than a championship game? It actually nicely links to what watching a game offers: small victories like first downs, larger victories like scoring or smothering the other team, and all the way to the final victory. The result of the game becomes a small victory that's part of a season.
Players like to play. I'm sure anybody on this board who played would be ecstatic to play another meaningless exhibition. Who cares about a bloodless calculation made by some fan who whines at anything less than total victory? If I had the privilege of being a player, I'd be all about "Let's suit up and play Michigan. Sounds like fun to me."
I don't even understand what pleasure there is in following the sport any other way. Of course, some seem to watch the Longhorns to feed some sort of weird displeasure jones.
Players bound for the NFL in a few months may want to sit out, but they know they will play again.