One of the unforeseen impacts of the transfer portal and NIL on college football is that in addition to creating a bona fide free agent market, it has also accelerated the traditional storylines of college football in a way that pushes even something like a national championship way, way into the review mirror almost as soon as they happen.
Case in point: Nick Saban's retirement. Obviously that was going to have huge knock-on effects throughout college football no matter when it happened, but given the subsequent coaching changes and player transfers and decommitments, it could easily be argued that Saban's decision had more of an impact on the landscape of college football than any single game ever could.