I think this notion is slowly changing. While back in the day, for a small team to beat a big school, it was a big deal for the big team and fans only, I see more and more people watching for small schools to upset. This could give them leverage to argue a play off system. I have family who went to TCU and while the fan base does not show it, they are just as passionate about football at the next team. Not to mention take a stroll down to SMU, you would think every year they were going to play for the national championship. So while it appears the College Football fans do not care about the smaller schools, I think it is the media. And again this is only speculation, but then again Fox Sports Southwest refers to UNT as Northern Texas State University. ( This was said, durning the 2006 Texas game.)