Is there parity in the 2007 college football season?
I think so, since parity means equality in this case. The old adage that any team can beat any other team on any Saturday has never been more obvious than this season.
My analysis shows that only 10 of the starting AP Top 25 poll teams have remained in the Top 25 through the first 9 weeks of the season. The flag bearers are:
USC’s No. 1 is now ranked 13th.
No. 2 LSU is now ranked No. 3 (the most consistent team all season).
No. 3 West Virginia now ranks at No. 7.
No. 4 Florida is now ranked 18th.
No. 5 Oklahoma is now ranked No. 5 (was No. 10 and bounced back).
No. 7 Texas is now ranked 14th.
No. 9 Virginia Tech is now ranked 11th.
No. 11 Georgia now sits at No. 10.
The No. 12 Ohio state now ranks at No. 1.
No. 20 Hawaii now ranks 12th.
Eight late children arrived the second week or later and have remained in the Top 25. They are South Carolina, Oregon and Boston College (8 weeks in the survey), South Florida and Missouri (7 weeks), Arizona State (6 weeks), Kansas (4 weeks), and Michigan (3 weeks).
Michigan lost its first two games, one to AA Appalachian State in one of the biggest upsets in college football history. Big Blue from the Big House has bounced back with 7 straight wins, including wins over Penn State, Purdue and Illinois (the rest were slugs).
Four teams were on the ballot and then they went out and played their way back. They are Auburn, Boise State, Clemson and Alabama.
Four other teams came in, then came out, came back in, and now come out again. They are Penn State, Rutgers, Tennessee, and Kansas State.
Ten more teams were in for more than a week, then left and haven’t come back. They include California (8 weeks), Wisconsin and Kentucky (6 weeks), Nebraska (5 weeks), Cincinnati (4 weeks), Louisville and Texas A&M (3 weeks), UCLA, Arkansas, and Georgia Tech (2 weeks).
Six other teams have been wonders in one week; they made the Top 25, were kicked out the following week, and never came back. They include TCU, Purdue, Illinois, Florida State, Texas Tech, and Virginia.
Overall, no fewer than 44 teams have been represented in the AP Poll Top 25 in the first 9 weeks of the season, or 37% of the 119 Division 1-A teams eligible for AP Poll voting by the country’s elite sports writers and broadcasters
So more than a third of the nation’s Division 1-A teams have been in the Top 25 in 9 weeks. Two newcomers this week, Connecticut and Wake Forest, may or may not be in the poll when this week’s 10th poll appears on Sunday night.
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
