College Football’s Rising Middle Class
As Parity Spreads, Elites Yield to the Former Second Tier; Michigan State, Auburn and Stanford
For practically as long as there’s been college football, there’s been a caste system within the sport.
In a game that defies logic in so many other ways, this stratification between the elite programs and the rest is the one thing that makes perfect sense. The schools with the best tradition and closest proximity to premier high-school talent tend to stay on top—Texas, Ohio State, Southern California and the like. Everyone else struggles to break through, mostly in vain.
But this world order is showing historic signs of strain. Oregon—an outpost of a program that once went nearly four decades between Rose Bowl berths—is ranked No. 1 in noncomputerized polls. Boise State, Texas Christian and Utah, three “outsider” programs from non-major conferences, are all ranked in the top 10. All four of these teams have been steadily on the march in recent years.
WSJ.com
10/21/10
Magnolia Tribune
