ea screwed over the smaller schools and conferences

Is the transfer portal too punishing maybe, I will have to test further and compare to real life statistics.

small schools getting nerfed is a great thing in my opinion, in 25 it was by far too easy to elevate a small school to national prominence in 4 - 5 years. I personally love the realism of the new system. The important thing here is sliders, if you do not like realism in your dynasty use sliders or go play all-American.