As you said very correctly, the emotional reasons were very evident. FB board would straight up rather compete against all the P2 advantages, even knowing that we have a very very small margin of error to just be considered for playoff inclusion. And the odds of winning the current version of the playoffs are not good for a non-P2 team. But even with all of that, they had very strong opinions about continuing the sisyphus push of the boulder up the hill. Even knowing that a segmented playoff would give VT a much better chance at equal competition and a path to winning a championship, they viewed that as basically FCS and not worth their time. The psychology is fascinating. The desire to belong among the strongest group makes some willing to accept a lot of suffering in the attempt.