The creation of the playoff and the difference between qualification and exclusion means, to most Power 5 schools, a difference of $400,000 per school. That's relatively small in a budget of tens of millions annually, but it's cash you can use to make debt-service payments on facilities, for example. Hard not to think of that cash as something you depend on.
And that's why the conspiracy theories will go into overdrive in cases in which a no-chance-for-playoff team upends the playoff-bound favorite and costs everybody -- including itself -- $400,000.
Didn't take long for the NC State coach to drop a few hints after his team lost to Clemson the other day.