The college football playoff has really changed the narrative on what success is. And Ohio State is operating at such a different level right now that those late 90s teams wouldn't have been winning Big Ten titles now either, but I believe some of them did at the time. And honestly winning the national championship was always this weird abstract thing. Even going to New year's Day bowls, when they were merit-based, and not just a combination of rotation and TV viewership with some sort of an accomplishment. It's sort of feels now like if you're not in the playoff, as a helmet school, what are you even doing here?
So I kinda don't agree, though sort of in a nuanced way.
It seems like getting to the playoff is in one way that goal, but it's also not really. Like, Michigan wants to get to the playoff, but getting to the playoff is packaged with 1. Beating OSU, 2. Winning the East 3. Playing for (and likely winning) a Big Ten title. Now maybe if Michigan won a few conference titles and missed the playoff, it would be a thing. But if back in the day, Carr had gone six years without a conference title and been swept by OSU, I think the anger woulda been the same.
To a degree, I think the expansion of NY6 bowls feels lesser, mostly because worse teams get in. But also going to a Peach or Orange feels bigger than going to an Outback or Citrus, even if the teams have accomplished the same.
I think a few factors are at work.
1. We know too much and we are better complainers
In 1999, it took some work to see the full CFB picture. You needed rickety websites, maybe newspapers or sports radio. The top-5 seemed more distant, a rarified group. Now, I can check those rankings every day in two clicks. I can see the whole sport, I can lament a 8-0 mid-major as a pretender instead of a fun story. And when you see the whole field, you can focus on your team's place/lack of place where you want to be. And I think as a society, complaints can unite more, and amplify, in sports and beyond.
2. There are fewer conference titles
The four teams I mentioned won actually only one conference title. But Carr also won part of two three-way splits and one two-way split. Now, we only get one a year, and if you don't win that one, you're mostly shut out of the bigger stuff.