I'm with both of you on this. If you're a national talent, a highly sought after recruit, one who has NFL aspirations, where are you going to go to get that "exposure"? Especially a program that's going to provide you with that exposure because they're a winning program, in the hunt every year. IMO, it's a nice little racket (monopoly) they got going on (LOL).
SeaRay brought it up before about the importance of recruiting, and that has given the SEC the edge over other conferences. And it's true. Meyer when he came to OSU stressed it to the other B1G head coaches. And while the other conferences/programs are improving recruiting, IMO, the important thing to remember is that a majority of those schools simply don't have access to the financial resources these elite power schools do. It's just not in their budget to commit to recruiting at the level these other schools do. A huge gap there. That's #1. #2 is they don't have the "prestige" that that been assigned/marketed to these "elite" programs, where the major sports media are shining their spotlight (promoting). Yet these are the ones being pushed at you.
It's all about the money boys.
Taking away scholarships is an idea, but doesn't then do more to punish the recruits by then limiting their choices, possible forcing them to accept/attend elsewhere?
One way the "lesser" conferences have improved has been by playing those big boys during the season. They get exposure and lots of money thrown at them in exchange for getting their butts beat on national TV (LOL). I think the MAC has become a better, more competitive, conference.
So I guess finding a way to throw more money at these programs ... redistributing that "pie" a little bit ... where they can invest in recruiting, is the only option currently I see. But people don't like sharing their pie.