News Alert:  Texas Tech knocking off #3 Oklahoma is the eleventh time an unranked team has dropped a top five team this year.  This is the first time in college football history that such a thing has happened so often.  What does it mean? 

The popular answer and buzz word of the day is the newfound “parity” of college football.  Because superstar players in talent positions like quarterback and runningback are more willing to forgo the big-name schools in order to get playing time, the theory goes, talent is spread more evenly across the country enabling less-known schools such as Louisville and Boise State to occassionally compete with the big boys.  And this is true, there are very talented players leading teams like Kentucky and Hawaii, and these talented players can surprise teams and pull off victories.  That is truly the beauty of college football.

However, key players with immense talent do not generally win games on their own.  In fact, the oft-forgotten linemen in the trenches play after play are the real deciding factor in most showdowns.  Offensive linemen that can protect those key talents allow them the chance to shine.  Defensive linemen that can outmaneuver those offensive linemen take away the talented players’ ability to shine.  One side eventually tiring the other is what shifts the critical momentum for the final quarter of play.  And unfortunately the lesser-known schools, for all the talent they may be able to attract, can rarely fill out a line with players big or quick enough to compete with the behemoths the big schools bring in.  This is the heart-breaking reality to bely the parity claim.  Rarely can talent overcome the eventual grind of a bigger, stronger opponent in the long run.

So then where do this year’s uncharacteristic losses come from?  I would say it is a combination of overall underachievement and slightly more even conferences.  The perennial conference kings are playing non-inspired football for whatever reason, meanwhile the other teams in the conferences are hungry and smell blood.  This is where parity in the talent positions can be a factor.  A team like Illinois has enough talent at key positions to drop an unmotivated Ohio State when they want it bad enough and the Buckeyes are looking past them.  But the parity alone is not what won the game for the Illini – OSU had to be willing to give them the win.  Enough of that sermon…

Just when the future was looking brightest for either team, both Oklahoma and Oregon lose their quarterbacks and drop a dangerous road game.  What an interesting karmic coincidence, given these two teams’ history ever since the botched call “cost the Sooners a national championship”.  Oregon can’t forget due to their own self-righteousness, and Oklahoma won’t forget because of the alleged slight they suffered.  Now its as though the college football god just took the ball away from them and said, “now neither of you can play with it.”

Notre Dame finally found someone they could beat, sorry Duke fans, basketball fever is just around the corner.

And finally, my Washington State Cougars blew it again.  They get your hopes up, draw near the bowl eligibility requirement, only to have Brink throw 6 interceptions and an “easy win” away.  Oregon State had only one 2 of the last eleven games played in Pullman.  Way to go Cougs, break my heart again.  There’s always next year…