By Michael Wilbon
Saturday, October 20, 2007

They can't stand this in Nebraska and Alabama, at Florida State and Miami, at Oklahoma and Notre Dame. The keepers of big-time college football never meant to share the rankings or the bowl games and certainly not the pile of money with the likes of Boise State and Hawaii. Bad enough that schools known primarily for basketball, such as Kentucky, Cincinnati and Rutgers, have gotten up the nerve to compete at the highest level. . . . But to have half the season hijacked by a fascination with a toddler of a program such as South Florida's is simply unacceptable to the college football blue bloods.

When Nebraska, after being throttled by Oklahoma State last week, brought back 70-year-old Tom Osborne as athletic director to essentially rescue the football program, Nebraska was emotionally connecting with its championship years, the days when winning 10 games and going to a major bowl game were virtually automatic. They're betting Osborne, one of the great coaches in college football history, can bring back the glory.

I'm betting he won't. And this has nothing to do with Nebraska's rich history or Osborne's wherewithal or how good the Cornhuskers can once again be. We're at a new time and place in college football as evidenced by this season. Actually, this all began on Jan. 1 to be exact, when Boise State beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. While the game is remembered for having the greatest ending in bowl history, the greater significance is that the difference between football powers and rank-and-file had been reduced to very, very little.

We were reminded of this in September when Appalachian State beat Michigan in Ann Arbor, then reminded pretty much every week as top five teams are upset by unranked teams. Parity isn't coming to college football. It's here. Okay, it's not yet as democratic as college basketball, but it's moving in that direction like a tidal wave. Your daddy's college football is dead and gone, thankfully. No matter how many SEC, Big Ten and ACC schools schedule seven and even eight home games per season (which should be outlawed), the days of 20 or 30 schools lording over the game are over.

There are good coaches all over the place, kids with NFL-caliber talent playing at schools that never before had a whiff of the top 25. There are universities everywhere who want their schools to reap the benefits from having their football team on national TV or in a big bowl game. As ESPN's Craig James said, there are more kids at more schools who believe they can win this particular week, no matter who the opposition. And then they go out and do it. That's parity.

The fact that South Florida and Rutgers played a game with national championship implications Thursday night is a sure sign of equality . . . as it was when West Virginia, then ranked No. 5, lost to South Florida . . . as it was when No. 3 Oklahoma lost to Colorado . . . as it was when No. 2 Southern Cal, a 41-point favorite, lost to Stanford. . . . as it was when No. 5 Wisconsin lost to Illinois. . . . as it was when No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Cal lost on the same day.

More teams have more reason to be encouraged than ever before. When No. 2 South Florida lost to Rutgers, the Bulls became the third No. 2 team in the Associated Press poll to lose in the last three weeks, and the fifth top three team to lose this season against an unranked opponent.

They don't like hearing these numbers at Nebraska and Alabama and Notre Dame and Oklahoma. If you look closely on Saturday afternoons, you'll see the blue bloods seething because they don't want to even play these upstarts much less lose to them or be ranked behind them.

Often by this point of the season, we've got a good idea of the best four or five teams. This year? Figuring out who will finish the season ranked Nos. 1 and 2 is pure guesswork. It's the coolest season perhaps ever in college football, unless you root for one of the blue bloods. Ohio State is No. 1 now in the BCS, but the Buckeyes aren't powerful enough to roll undefeated through Wisconsin and Illinois at home, Penn State and Michigan on the road. Southern Cal, which has had a wonderful five-year run, isn't good enough to win on the road at Notre Dame, at 10th-ranked Oregon, at 12th-ranked Cal and at eighth-ranked Arizona State.

You feeling good about Boston College's chances of remaining undefeated? The Eagles play at Virginia Tech, at Maryland, at Clemson, plus have home games against Miami and Florida State.

Would you have imagined five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago that Miami and Florida State would be reduced to being spoilers, reduced to playing second fiddle to South Florida in their own state?

The beauty of this season is that there's no great team, but 30 very good ones, and good ones we're not accustomed to being ranked this late in the season. Steve Spurrier has returned South Carolina to respectability and a No 6 spot in both the AP top 25 and the BCS ratings. There's Kentucky at No. 7 in the AP and No. 8 in the BCS. There's Kansas at No. 13 in the BCS, Missouri at No. 16, Hawaii at No. 18. Texas Tech at No. 22 in the AP, Cincinnati No. 23 in the USA Today poll. Boise State, with only one loss, could slip back into somebody's top 25 this weekend.

Only five undefeated teams (Ohio State, Boston College, Kansas, Arizona State, Hawaii) remain. Given their schedules and the relative equality, none likely will remain so. Oklahoma, LSU, Kentucky, Oregon and South Carolina are still alive with one loss. Florida might be alive with two losses.

And as a result, the college football season is alive and crackling with plenty of surprising results like we've never seen before, but sure need to start getting used to.