College Football: Parity, Under Prepared, or Just Plain Weird?
| 4
|
by Jdcane98
Lately in college football there’s been a strange occurrence. A horde of underdogs have been pulling their fair share of David versus Goliath moments, and it’s not just “any given Sunday” either. Appalachian State shouldn’t be able to beat Michigan, regardless of which Sabbath it is. Kentucky shouldn’t outscore Louisville, Miami and Florida State shouldn’t just outreach .500, and UCF shouldn’t give Texas a run for its money. Today’s college football landscape has seen an abundance of upsets, and there can only be two reasons. Either parity is playing a role, or the underdogs enter these match-ups with more energy and preparation.
Parity: Recruiting is a pseudo-science these days, there’s no doubt about it. No longer can teams sign an unlimited amount of High School studs in February. You won’t see the Bear Bryant recruiting classes anymore. Today’s world is pick your poison. Teams have to weight the odds of the dreaded “Did Not Qualify” or someone dropping/failing out, or just not living up to expectations. With only 85 total scholarships, and a max of 25 per year to give out at the Division-1/FBS level, coaches have to get it right, or say goodnight.
How does this new wave of recruiting correlate to parity? The ‘other’ teams can pick up the crumbs, some of which are diamonds in the rough, because of the limited scholarship numbers. Sometimes a lesser known school can take a risk on a ‘character issue’ with big time talent (think Antonio Bryant to Pitt or Nate Harris to Louisville). Sometimes guys develop late and you just can’t take everyone because of the scholarship limitations. Elvis Dumerville (Louisville) is a prime example. Dumerville measured only 5’11 at the NFL Combine. 5’11 is not your prototypical College Football size player, let alone NFL player. But something that’s hard for college coaches to measure with so little time and so many prospects is a players’ heart. Dumerville has heart, maybe Willie Williams doesn’t.
With these ‘other’ players going to these ‘other’ schools, it allows for parity. Louisville was once one of these other schools, and now they’re getting beat by one in Kentucky. Louisville still takes players that Miami, Florida, and Florida State let go and right now Illinois is doing the same. Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn were both Zooked into signing with Illinois. Benn was a five star recruit and the number two WR according to Scout.com, and Williams was a four star recruit and number five QB according to SI. Zook more than likely promised his usual, playing time. Zook tells kids exactly what they want to hear, whether he can actually deliver or not.
How does technology come into effect? In these modern times, the ‘other’ teams can use the internet to watch hi-lites, could text message to keep in constant contact with players, can use databases to watch film and look at camp results. The creation of the Internet and the DVD has changed the landscape of recruiting as we know it by closing the gap between the big-name schools and the lesser-known teams.
Under Prepared: It’s been easy to see that some of the favorites are coming in under prepared and it’s lead to embarrassing losses. This season already Michigan has lost to Appalachian State and was blown out by Oregon, UCLA was stunned by Utah, Notre Dame has started 0-3, and more upsets are sure to come. In the past few years it’s easy to think of big upsets like North Carolina upsetting Miami a few years back, Boise State this past year in their miracle game against Oklahoma, and Oregon State’s dominating win against Notre Dame in the late 90’s. The truth is, the underdog teams will prepare to play the favorite for weeks and if your team was going to play Ohio State in two weeks, but you’re playing Akron this week, would you start to look ahead?
In my opinion, it’s a mix of parity and a lack of preparation, but parity weights out more. The South Florida Bulls have less talent than Auburn, Louisville, and West Virginia, but have managed to upset all three over the last few seasons. Coach Leavitt might be the next Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it’s because his teams are always ready to play and he manages to get more out of less than any coach in the country. Leavitt has to compete for Florida talent with FSU, UF, UM, UCF, FIU, FAU, BCC, JU and FAMU in Division 1 between the FBS and FCS. That’s a lot of hands in the pot, now think about how many Florida players head up to schools like West Virginia (Noel Devine), Louisville (Harris, Williams, Dumerville), Pitt (Bryant), and Southern Miss (Antwan Easterling). Today’s world is driven by technology, and the College Football world is no different.
