Yep. Not even trying to hide it. They want Bama on cruise control until Fouts can return for Omaha. They stuck UT with a loaded regional to accommodate ESPN's "home run" narrative-- three powerful offenses with the country's three top HR hitters from Indiana, Louisville and Tennessee-- in one regional. Looks like UT will sail through that to meet Texas in the supers. Another tough regional, since Texas hoped for a Top 8 seed and wasn't happy with their seeding. Presto, another narrative-- the battle of the UTs in Knoxville, playing a UT-UT matchup to replace the one cancelled in the regular season.
It's all about narratives and matchups they can package and sell for maximum revenue. To boost revenue even more, they put most of the games on ESPN+ to increase subscriptions and haul in even more $$$. It favors some teams over others, but when the real metric is TV revenue, that's what you get. Teams just have to play and write their own narratives-- and hope the cream rises to the top.