Parity in college football provides new excitement

John Leroi Out of Bounds

Before Saturday's loss to Purdue, Notre Dame was ranked 12th by the Associated Press. This week, the Fighting Irish didn't even make the top 25. Colorado was No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. The Buffaloes lost to Michigan, a ranked team, and they tumbled to No. 16 (see Page 2B if you don't believe me).

The reason? New pollsters? Extremely capricious voters? An error in counting last week's votes? No. It's just that so many teams are so good, or at least there are a bunch of teams that are about as good as each other.

For the first time in - well, I don't have an exact date, but it's been a long time - seven teams received first-place votes in the AP poll. Eight teams were deemed No. 1 by at least one pollster in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

Nobody seems to have any idea who the best two or three teams in the country are. Florida is good. So's Penn State. So's Washington.

Tennessee is very good, but UCLA almost beat them. Speaking of UCLA, the Bruins came in 0-2 and trounced then-No. 10 Texas, 66-3. Now UCLA, 1-2, is ranked 24th (in the AP poll).

And Central Florida was beating Nebraska through two quarters of football. What the heck is going on?

I'll tell you what. There is more parity in college football this year than there has been in the last 20 years.

That's not to say that Purdue and Central Florida will be ranked anytime soon (though both received votes in this week's AP poll). But while Florida will still blow out teams like Central Michigan, at least some of these traditionally bad teams can step onto the same football field as top-25 teams and look better than the local high school squad.

That's good for college football. Fielding competitive teams makes schools look good to prospective students - athletes and non-athletes alike - and it makes the season more fun to watch.

It is far more exciting to the average fan not to know who is the best team in the country. And it's more fun for die-hard fans who can follow their favorite team, no matter how bad they were in the past, and know that teams like Purdue have the chance to beat intra-state rivals like Notre Dame.

It also takes a lot of power out of the hands of pollsters and makes the games themselves more meaningful. Next year, with the Super Alliance, rankings will mean everything. Hopefully, competition for the top spots will be as heated as it is this season.

Let teams play football on the field, not on paper. Early season rankings mean very little when games are this competitive.

Gary Barnett has proven a lot, taking Northwestern from perennial doormat to a Rose Bowl team. Coaches of other losing programs have more to live up to now. But little by little, bad teams are becoming mediocre, which is all you can ask for. Not every team can be Northwestern. After all, for every Northwestern, there is an Oklahoma, who the Wildcats beat soundly this season.

The Sooners, once the most feared team in football, have been reduced to nothing more than a fading star.

But stories like those are far less common these days than those of Northwestern, Oregon and Washington State.

And more important are teams like Purdue and Kansas, once shoddy programs, who now can contend with the big boys. This year will be a fun one to watch.

- John Leroi can be reached over e-mail at jrleroi@umich.edu

09-15-97