Considering it was the P12 who put them there, I'm not sure I'd characterize it that way.
Regarding Illinois and any of the teams that churn in the middle to bottom of the conference over the past few decades, I think the conference finds value in having those teams and we're actually in an enviable position that's not likely to change (anymore than anything is guaranteed in college sports). The current landscape (sad to say) gives the P2 leverage and they want to exploit it. From what I've read, the battle is for lucrative playoff spots, and the P2 don't want the existing committee to have the power to award those, since they might not be biased towards the P2.
I think the 12 team format is a cool idea they should let run before changing, but my guess is the P2 will succeed in forcing a bigger playoff with more guarantees for them, and do it as quickly as possible. 2026 is going to look different, and probably not better.
I find the big money league sports informative. The regular season gets watered down pretty drastically and the playoffs become their own season. That's how fans ultimately spend the most time/money on the sport. It seems inevitable that college football will head that way despite the groans. There's a lot of wrinkles to college that might make it play out differently, and I could see a crisis for programs outside the major conferences where programs can't keep up and are shuttered. Really hard to predict all this.