"Yes, the NCAA caps all teams at 85 scholarship players per season, but the above illustration highlights how some conferences juggle the rules beneath the rules differently, and in so doing provide their member institutions with a material, unequal advantage. It’s not just Alabama – many SEC schools have taken advantage and stretched these scholarship rules, particularly over the past decade. The SEC is playing the best football in the nation right now, and there are many factors to that beyond the number of players signing scholarships. However, it’s difficult to argue with the fact that having more players from which to select your final 85 gives a team a distinct advantage."