The season of parity in college football continues.Unranked Rutgers beat #2 University of South Florida Thursday night, an outcome that will shake up the rankings again and reposition USF closer to where it belongs, somewhere between 10th and 15th in the rankings.
While everyone is talking about how good this is for college football -- and it certainly has been fun to watch -- has anybody considered the possibility that there just aren't any great teams out there?
Only three of the preseason top 10 teams are left, and only LSU has remained there the entire season. Ohio State and Boston college are the only major unbeatens, though Kansas and Hawaii lurk on the periphery. And based on their strength of schedule ratings (the four programs have a combined three wins over ranked teams), it's hard to get real excited about any of those teams.
Either the press and the coaches have done a terrible job of assessing talent all season long, or things have started to even out in college football. No longer are there one or two bullies at the top with everyone else scurrying for the scraps; no, any team can beat any other team on any given Saturday (or Thursday night).
But is that because the once-second tier programs have elevated their games, ramped up their recruiting, and brought in coaches that "know how to win"? Or could it be that it's an off year for the big name programs, the USCs, the Floridas, and the Michigans of the world?
Call it parity if you want, but I suspect mediocrity may be a better descriptor. Either way, I can guarantee you that no one will be happy with how the BCS computers sort things out at the end.
Maybe, just maybe, this will be the season that sets the wheels in motion for a playoff system.
4 comments:
For a sport that is so steeped in tradition, I think that this is a disaster.
This could be the Michigan graduate in me, but I think it is better when the big schools do well. Even people that absolutely despise Michigan, USC, Texas, Alabama would rather root against them than watch S. Florida.
Well, tyduffy, I think we're still going to have two big name programs in the BCS title game. The Cinderellas will all eventually lose, and teams like Oklahoma and LSU, (even USC, Cal, or Oregon) will make it to the big game in the hend.
Arizona State is as big a name as Boston College. They are undefeated too.
Rick, you're right. My fault for leaving that out.
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