With USC’s loss to Stanford on Saturday and the resultant shuffling of teams in the top 10 has resulted in the ascendance of several unlikely teams toward the top of the rankings. The early season debate over possible scenarios of three and four unbeaten teams is well back in the rear view mirror at this point and further demonstrates why rancor over such scenarios so early in the season is unnecessary. With rosters of 18-21 year old college students, maddening inconsistency and letdowns should be expected. Columns have now shifted the debate from ones about the dominance of the large programs at the beginning of the season to discussions on the emergence of parity in college football. Unfortunately, these discussions would also seem to be premature as half the season still remains to be played. As the season lengthens, the depth of a team is tested. While smaller schools are able to now obtain an initial layer of talented players that enable those schools to put more talented programs to the test thanks to scholarship limits and the proliferation of college football across a nationwide multimedia landscape, providing increased exposure for those small schools, larger institutions will still benefit from building rosters with top prospects two and three deep at key positions. As injuries and fatigue mount, expect some of the non-traditional powers to begin suffering their own unexpected losses.
I would still maintain that this may be a season that sees no team reach the BCS championship game with an unblemished record, with the possible exception of an Ohio State team that faces a remaining schedule that consists of unremarkable conference foes who have already had multiple facets of their game exposed. Many surprises in this season likely still remain, with one lurking in Lexington this weekend as LSU finally leaves the Gulf Coast region to play in a classic trap game coming off their emotional and gutsy defeat of Florida in Baton Rouge.
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