Huh, so they could.
Maybe they don't want a team who finished (roughly) top half (8.5 rounded to 9) to have to play 5 games to win the title?
Or maybe they just were lazy and didn't want to change anything when they added 3 more teams?
I dunno that the reasoning has ever been made public.
With inflation, $10k in 1972 is equal to a shade over $79k now. So while college has outpaced inflation, it’s not nearly as bad as it appears at first glance.