HuskerTrucker
All-Conference
It is apparent that parity has done exactly what the NCAA wanted it to do with the cuts in the scholarships. We are seeing week to week teams that come out of no where to challenge the traditional power houses. Just ask Michigan about it...lol.
Call me crazy, but I think the days of each conference having a couple teams at the end of the season that are either unbeaten or with one loss is coming to a close - I can see some of the larger conferences or conferences with two divisions having a battle to win that division or conference with 2 or even 3 losses... and furthermore I predict that we will have a NC in the next ten years that actually has 2 losses. There may be another team that only has one loss that same year, but the team that has 2 losses will have had a tougher strength of schedule that will come into play in the computer rankings if not in the polls done by the coaches or press. The competition for the top bowl games will become more intense, and the process may have to be overhauled to make it more fair to all teams.
Parity is a good thing for the teams that have been at the bottom of their conferences year after year, but it is going to hurt the powerhouse schools like Michigan, Ohio State, USC, and even the Oklahoma's and Nebraska's of the world, because it is going to cost them money. It may also cost them fans, because it will no longer be fun to be "part of" a fan base when your team doesn't always win...because there are those fans that only are there when times are good, then disappear when things go south.
If the lesser schools are all of a sudden more competitive, then schools that have been power houses will no longer have a reason not to schedule other power houses that are out of conference. If you are going to have a loss, why not lose to a team that you can explain later is a power house rather than an up and coming team that has never been viewed as a winner, even though they in actuality may be as good as any other team in the country.
Just watching todays scoreboard made it apparent to me that this parity has made a big difference. The bookies in Vegas must be climbing the walls....because trying to put a line on a game has just about been thrown out the window...you just never know who is going to have a good game and play above their traditional place, and who is going to be caught sleepwalking, or just showing up expecting to win. I am glad I don't make my living making books...
Call me crazy, but I think the days of each conference having a couple teams at the end of the season that are either unbeaten or with one loss is coming to a close - I can see some of the larger conferences or conferences with two divisions having a battle to win that division or conference with 2 or even 3 losses... and furthermore I predict that we will have a NC in the next ten years that actually has 2 losses. There may be another team that only has one loss that same year, but the team that has 2 losses will have had a tougher strength of schedule that will come into play in the computer rankings if not in the polls done by the coaches or press. The competition for the top bowl games will become more intense, and the process may have to be overhauled to make it more fair to all teams.
Parity is a good thing for the teams that have been at the bottom of their conferences year after year, but it is going to hurt the powerhouse schools like Michigan, Ohio State, USC, and even the Oklahoma's and Nebraska's of the world, because it is going to cost them money. It may also cost them fans, because it will no longer be fun to be "part of" a fan base when your team doesn't always win...because there are those fans that only are there when times are good, then disappear when things go south.
If the lesser schools are all of a sudden more competitive, then schools that have been power houses will no longer have a reason not to schedule other power houses that are out of conference. If you are going to have a loss, why not lose to a team that you can explain later is a power house rather than an up and coming team that has never been viewed as a winner, even though they in actuality may be as good as any other team in the country.
Just watching todays scoreboard made it apparent to me that this parity has made a big difference. The bookies in Vegas must be climbing the walls....because trying to put a line on a game has just about been thrown out the window...you just never know who is going to have a good game and play above their traditional place, and who is going to be caught sleepwalking, or just showing up expecting to win. I am glad I don't make my living making books...
