Has parity finally made its way into college football?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word parity as “the quality or state of being equal or equivalent”. In college football, that hasn’t been the rule of thumb for quite a while.

The rich teams and conferences seemed to always seemed to have become richer, and the separation between those traditional names associated with big money college football and the rest of the world always seemed to grow wider.

Until recently.

Over the past decade — maybe even a little longer — we’ve seen as steady climb of teams who weren’t traditionally football powers become more and more competitive, and even part of the elite in some cases.

Teams like Baylor, TCU, Louisville, Duke, UCF, and Boise State among others, have firmly planted themselves in the yearly conversation of conference championships and national rankings. 20 years ago, that list of teams would have been unheard of in college football.

So, like the NFL, has parity finally found its way into the world of college football?

Until this year, I’d say possibly…maybe…not quite sure….

But after the first seven weeks of this season, it’s almost a definite yes.

Try to follow me on my path of logic here.

Alabama has lost to Ole Miss, who is undefeated along with in-state rival Mississippi State, who has defeated Auburn, who has beaten LSU, who also lost to Mississippi State and lost to Wisconsin, who somehow lost to Northwestern, who has also beaten Penn State who beat UCF, who lost to a Missouri team who lost to Indiana and Georgia, who lost to South Carolina, who has been beaten by that same Missouri team and to Texas A&M, who lost to Mississippi State.

Got all that?

So, what does it all mean?

Coming into week seven there were 15 one-loss teams in the Associated Press Top 25.

Fifteen.

And there (as seen above) was no rhyme or reason as to who had beaten who. Any given Saturday (or Thursday) it seemed that anyone could beat anyone else. And it’s only going to get worse.

It’s all but guaranteed that more of the remaining undefeated teams will (or have already) lost this week, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see a couple of two-loss teams in the inaugural College Football Playoff.

The SEC — who many regard as the premier conference in college football — is in as much flux as any league in the nation. Both the East and West divisions are wide open as late in the season as they’ve ever been, with four teams still very much alive and able to win the East, and five teams in the West still very much in the hunt.

There seems to be no telling who will beat who in the SEC this year, and the two teams from Mississippi are at the top of the heap.

Things are no different in the Pac-12, another top conference. Essentially only three teams in the entire conference have to get a lot of help to even think about making the conference championship game.

Now this isn’t to say that all things are equal up and down the FBS…far from it. But things are certainly a lot closer than they used to be, and teams who never dreamed of glory in college football are spending millions on new facilities and stadiums.

The dawn of the digital age has made recruiting a much more national game than just regional, with coaches being able to speak with face-to-face, and to view the body of work for recruits without even setting foot in an airport.

Recruits can, in turn, take virtual tours of campuses and facilities without having to make “official visits”, giving them the opportunity to see schools they might not otherwise be able to view.

With the NCAA granting autonomy to the Power-5 schools, some of this perceived parity may begin to slip away…at least for schools not within their inner circle. But all the Power-5 teams should expect to see much more equality and parity within their respective conferences and with each other.

This is something that has been desperately needed in college football for a long time, and it’s only going to help the sport in the long run. The NFL has flourished like never before with a variety of teams being contenders and playing in/winning Super Bowls from year to year. Nothing could be better for college football.

Upsets are fun. The status quo is boring. Nobody wants to see Alabama play for and or win the national championship every season…unless they’re from Alabama.

And good news for those of you suffering from SEC-fatigue. Last year’s win by Florida State over Auburn in the national championship game was only the beginning. The SEC will still be one of, if not the strongest conference in the nation, but the new playoff format combined with this growing parity in the sport will give you a break from hearing “S-E-C…S-E-C.!” at the end of each season.

No, we’re not there yet. There’s still a lot of elitism in college football…but it’s slowly but surely coming to an end.

PA-RI-TY! PA-RI-TY!