We may be on the same page, but for me it's not necessarily about "they shouldn't be D1."
It's that the chances for a historical upset, especially later in the season, are way lower than we'd see in something like March Madness.
A much bigger field would be a lot of fun, but not needed to crown a real champion.
It'd be a fun thing to research, but I can't think of a major D1 team that suffered a wild upset and went on to be a serious contender that same season.
Take Michigan's crazy loss to App State in 2007...it happened in Week 1 and Michigan went on to lose four games.
I do agree with your previous take that the Power 4 teams will likely separate at some point and then this conversation is moot.
